For the Love of a Child
by jumpin
Summary: Seven and B'Elanna get into a transporter accident, and it somehow caused B'Elanna to impregnate Seven. Seven wants to keep the baby but B'Elanna isn't ready to be a mother. Will Seven have to raise the baby all by herself? NEW CHAPTER 17
1. The Impossible

For The Love of a Child  
Part One  
  
B'Elanna Torres, the chief engineer of Voyager was not a happy woman. Captain Janeway had all but forced her to lead this away mission. She had to beam down to an uninhabited planet along with Ensign Kim, crewmen Jenkins, lieutenant Carrey, and Seven of Nine. The Captain actually expected them to spend the entire day on the planet collecting plant and mineral samples.  
  
This in itself wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the fact that she and Seven of Nine had to be put on the same away mission. The two of them just could not get along. It started the moment that they met. Something about the Borg hybrid just annoyed her.  
  
"Alright everybody," B'Elanna shouted to get everyone's attention. "I think we have everything that the Captain wants so start packing up."  
  
As B'Elanna looked around she realized that Seven was no where around. "Damn it," she cursed under her breath. "Has anyone seen where Seven went?"  
  
"I think I saw her going over there," Kim said pointing to towards a small valley. "She said something about looking for a flower."  
  
"Alright," B'Elanna sighed. "I'll go look for her. The rest of you pack up and beam out. It shouldn't take too long to find her."  
  
B'Elanna walked towards the valley, hoping she could find Seven quickly. She had plans with Tom tonight, and she really didn't want to be late.  
  
After about ten minutes of searching she finally found Seven. She was kneeling down beside some wild flowers. She was using a pair of clippers to collect a small pile of different flowers.  
  
"Seven what the hell are you doing?" B'Elanna asked as she moved to stand Beside Seven. "I thought I told you to stay with the rest of the group?"  
  
"I am picking flowers," Seven said as she clipped another flower.  
  
"What do you want flowers for," B'Elanna asked confused.  
  
"They are not for me. Naiomi Wildman wished to see some of the plant life on this planet but was not authorized to beam down."  
  
"Ok," B'Elanna said accepting her explanation. "The rest of the away team just beamed up, so let's get going," she said as she pulled Seven to her feet.  
  
"As you wish lieutenant," Seven said as she picked up the flowers she picked.  
  
Just as B'Elanna was about to tap her badge and request for a beam out, something strange started to happen. The once sunny sky had suddenly been covered by dark clouds. Streaks of lightning crashed down around them, some very close to striking the two women.  
  
Just as a bolt of lighting came down to strike them B'Elanna was able to tap her badge. "Two for emergency beam out," she shouted as she grabbed a hold of Seven.  
  
The beam out happed just moments before the bolt of lightning struck, scorching the place they were just standing.  
  
(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)  
  
"Something strange is going on with the transporters," Kim said as he was trying to bam up Seven and B'Elanna. "Their signals are trying to merge. I can barely keep them separated."  
  
"Widen the angular confinement beam," Chakotay suggested as he looked over Kim's shoulder.  
  
"It's working," Kim said as he looked down at his screen. "The signals have almost finished separating. There got it," he said smiling.  
  
Kim input a few more commands before Seven and B'Elanna materialized on the transporter pad.  
  
"Are you two okay?" Kim asked.  
  
"Yeah were fine," B'Elanna said as she looked over to Seven.  
  
Seven looked up with dull eyes. Her skin was all clammy and pale, and she looked like she was going to collapse on the spot.  
  
"I need to speak with the doctor," Seven said as took a few unsteady steps towards the door before collapsing.  
  
B'Elanna and Harry rushed over to Seven and rolled her onto her back. Seven was out cold, and was looking even worse.  
  
"Emergency transport to sickbay," B'Elanna shouted as she Seven, and Harry were transported to sickbay.  
  
"Activate E.M.H," Harry said as he moved Seven to the bio-bed.  
  
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," the doctor said as he shimmered into existence.  
  
"Something happened on the away mission, when we transported back Seven collapsed," B'Elanna said getting worried.  
  
The doctor quickly began to scan Seven, and then stopped with a look of shock on his face. "This can't be right," he muttered.  
  
"What's wrong with her doctor," Harry asked.  
  
"I'll tell you as soon as we wake Seven up," the doctor said as he pressed a hypo spray to Seven's neck.  
  
As Seven eyes fluttered open she looked up to see the doctor, Harry, B'Elanna all leaning over her. "What happened?" she asked in a weak voice.  
  
"It seems you're pregnant Seven," the doctor said with his usually horrible bedside manor.  
  
"What?" Seven shouted trying to sit up quickly.  
  
"Stay calm Seven," the doctor said as he pushed Seven back down. "Your body has gone through a huge shock," he admonished her.  
  
"How is this possible?" Seven asked confused. "I have never, with anyone, this can not be possible."  
  
"Well it looks like you're going to be the virgin mother," the doctor tried to joke.  
  
"You are not funny," Seven said in a cold voice.  
  
"Hold still," the doctor said ignoring her earlier statement. He pushed a button on the bio-bed, starting a more detailed scan of Seven's womb.  
  
After the scan was completed, the doctor started pulling up the information at his desk. After a few minutes of looking over the read outs he turned to face B'Elanna.  
  
"B'Elanna did you transport off the planet with Seven?" the doctor asked looking up from the screen.  
  
"Yeah, we both transported off the planet right before the lightning struck."  
  
"I think that explains it. One of your eggs was transported into Seven's womb, and bonded with one of her eggs. In essence you are the father."  
  
"How is this even possible?" B'Elanna asked starting to panic.  
  
"When the borg assimilated me they altered my re-productive organs. I can be impregnated by both males and females," Seven said from the bio-bed.  
  
"Why would they do that? I thought single cell fertilization would be too inefficient for them," Harry asked.  
  
"It normally is, but in situations where skilled drones are required quickly single cell fertilization is the only option."  
  
"How are new drones in nine months going to help them?"  
  
"The child will not be born in nine months. It will be closer to one month. The nanoprobes in my womb are specialized to speed up the development of my child."  
  
"I think we should call the Captain now," the doctor said as he tapped his comm. badge.  
  
"The Doctor to Captain Janeway."  
  
"Janeway here," the captain answered through the comm. badge.  
  
"Captain, I think that you need to come down to sick bay. We have a problem."  
  
"Are B'Elanna and Seven okay?" Janeway asked.  
  
"It will be easier to explain when you come down to sickbay."  
  
"Alright, I'm on my way, Janeway out."  
  
As the comm. link closed Seven looked towards the doctor. "What is going to happen, doctor?"  
  
"There is a law concerning situations like this. At this stage of development both parents must consent to the child being born," the doctor said.  
  
"Do you mean you will terminate the child if B'Elanna does not consent?" Seven asked as she wrapped her arms around her stomach horrified.  
  
Janeway entered sickbay to a very odd scene. Seven was sitting up on a bio- bed, B'Elanna's face had turned a shocked white, and Harry was just staring between B'Elanna and Seven dumbly.  
  
"What's going on doctor?" Janeway asked. "What's wrong with Seven?"  
  
"Well Captain, Seven is pregnant and B'Elanna is the father," the doctor answered in his usually blunt manner.  
  
"Explain Doctor," Janeway said glaring at him.  
  
"When the borg assimilated Seven they made it possible for her to be impregnated by both males and females. When Seven and B'Elanna transported off the planet something happened to the transporter. One of B'Elanna's eggs was transported into Seven's womb, and bonded with one of Seven's eggs."  
  
"Have the two of you decided how you wish to proceed?" Janeway asked.  
  
"I don't really think that we're the best two people to handle something like this Captain. I think it would be best if we terminated the fetus now," B'Elanna said.  
  
"NO," Seven shouted. "Please Lieutenant do not do this. I will take care of everything myself. I will not trouble you with any part of the pregnancy, or raising the child," Seven pleaded.  
  
"Why is this so important to you Seven?" B'Elanna asked clearly confused. From what B'Elanna knew of Seven she always took the most logical approach to everything, and the two of them having a child was probably the least logical thing that they could do.  
  
"It is important because I promised myself that I would never destroy another life," Seven said letting her emotions show.  
  
"Please Lieutenant. I know that you do not want this child, but I do. I will do anything you want. You will not have to lift a finger to help," Seven begged the older woman.  
  
"Do you mean it Seven," B'Elanna asked letting her relief show. Even though B'Elanna didn't want a child, she couldn't simply have it terminated. If she did she would probably end up feeling guilty about it for the rest of her life.  
  
"Yes," Seven said shaking her head vigorously. "I will take care of everything."  
  
"Alright, if Seven is willing to take the responsibility for taking care of this child, then she can do what ever she wants," B'Elanna agreed.  
  
"Thank you Lieutenant," Seven said relived.  
  
"Well I guess that takes care of that," the doctor said. "I have to run a few more tests on Seven to make sure everything is okay, but I guess the rest of you can get back to work."  
  
As Harry, and B'Elanna left sickbay Seven laid back down to let the doctor finish his test.  
  
(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)  
  
"So how was your away mission?" Tom asked as he sat with B'Elanna in the mess hall.  
  
"It could not have gone worse," B'Elanna said in a tired voice. "Something went wrong with the transporters, and I impregnated Seven."  
  
"You did what?" Tom asked in shocked voice. "You're not going to keep it are you?"  
  
"Seven said that she would take care of everything. That I wouldn't have to help her raise the kid. It's actually kind of a relief, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had the pregnancy terminated, and I'm not ready to take care of a kid now."  
  
"So this won't affect us?" Tom said. "We can go on like this never happened?"  
  
"Is that all you can think about?" B'Elanna asked getting a little angry. "Seven is going to be raising a child by herself, and you're worried about how it's going to affect us?" B'Elanna said as she got up and stormed out of the mess hall.  
  
"I need to get to engineering," B'Elanna muttered to herself. "I need to get my mind off what happened."  
  
When B'Elanna got down to engineering she flagged Carrey over. "I need something complicated and time consuming to do. What do we have on the list?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"Well we've been putting off re-calibrating the plasma conduits for a while. I can get a team together to give you a hand in a couple of hours," Carrey offered.  
  
"Don't bother. I'll take care of it myself. I could use the time to myself," B'Elanna said.  
  
"You're going to have to get a hypo spanner from cargo bay 2," Carrey said. "Jenkins just broke the last one an hour ago."  
  
"Fine," B'Elanna said as she left engineering, and went towards cargo bay 2. "I really hope Seven isn't in there," B'Elanna thought as she stood in front of the cargo bay doors.  
  
The doors opened softly as B'Elanna made her way in. As she looked around her eyes caught Seven's alcove glowing softly against the back wall. Next to it was a small area sectioned off with cloth room dividers. She walked over to it and peeked in curiously.  
  
What she saw inside bothered her. Seven was asleep in an emergency cot. The space that she had sectioned off was smaller than most prison cells. Anybody could walk in at anytime, and do god knows what to her anytime they wanted.  
  
B'Elanna quickly moved towards Seven's cot and began to shake her awake.  
  
Seven woke up feeling herself being shaken. "What's going on," she asked in a tired voice. "What are you doing B'Elanna?"  
  
"What am I doing?" B'Elanna asked in an angry voice. "I think the more important question is what are you doing here? I thought you said that you could take care of things. You should have asked for quarters."  
  
"I have already asked. The Captain did not wish to assign me any," Seven said sitting up.  
  
"Why the hell would she not give you any quarters, especially now?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"When you left the Captain told to terminate the child. I refused, and she did not assign any quarters to me as punishment," she said.  
  
"Well you can't sleep here, it isn't safe," B'Elanna said standing up.  
  
"I have no where else to go," Seven lying down on the bed again.  
  
"Alright Seven you can stay with me, just until I can find you a permanent place to stay," she said helping the younger woman to stand up.  
  
"Thank you Lieutenant," Seven said. "I will try to stay out of your way."  
  
B'Elanna led a surprisingly quiet and more subdued Seven to her quarters. As the doors opened B'Elanna began to give new commands to the computer.  
  
"Computer, give Seven of Nine complete access to my quarters."  
  
"Acknowledged."  
  
"Computer, allow Seven of Nine use of the replicator."  
  
"Acknowledged."  
  
"Sorry about the mess," B'Elanna said sheepishly. "I'll clean it up when I'm finished in engineering."  
  
"Replicate anything you want to eat," B'Elanna said as she walked out of quarters.  
  
Seven sighed as she looked around the room. B'Elanna may have been a brilliant engineer, but she lived in a sty.  
  
"I will have to clean these quarters before I can rest," Seven thought as she began to pick up the clothes that B'Elanna left lying on the floor. After all the clothes were picked up and cleaned Seven started on all the empty plates and cups lying around.  
  
After a long couple of hours B'Elanna's quarters were finally clean. Seven sat down on the sofa that she had recently uncovered and put her feet up. She hoped that she would not have to impose on B'Elanna for too long. She also had to be careful not to anger the Klingon. She was not sure if B'Elanna would change her mind about letting her keep the child.  
  
(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)  
  
"I wonder who would take in a pregnant ex-drone." B'Elanna thought to herself as she worked on the plasma conduits. "Maybe Samantha would be willing to take her in. Seven gets along pretty well with Naiomi."  
  
As B'Elanna continued to work her mind kept drifting back to Seven, and the child she was going to have. This was quite possibly the strangest situation she had ever been in. One woman impregnating another was completely unheard of. In the federation it was considered genetic tampering, and was against the law. Never in B'Elanna's wildest dreams did she see this coming. As a woman she had never even had to think about the consequences of getting someone pregnant.  
  
After what seemed like ages B'Elanna was finally done. She packed up her tools and headed out of engineering. "Still enough time to talk to Samantha," she thought.  
  
"Computer what is the location of Samantha Wildman?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"Samantha Wildman is in her quarters," the computer responded.  
  
B'Elanna quickly made her way to Samantha's quarters and rang the entry chime.  
  
"Hi B'Elanna," Samantha said as the doors to her quarters opened.  
  
"Hey Samantha, could I talk to you privately about something?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"Sure, come in Naiomi is playing on the holodeck, so we should have enough time."  
  
"Thanks," B'Elanna said as she walked into Samantha's quarters. "It's actually about Seven and me. We went on an away mission today. Something happened to the transporter, and long story short I impregnated Seven."  
  
Samantha was shocked for a minute. "How could you make Seven pregnant?" she asked bewildered.  
  
"It has something to do with her borg implants. She can be impregnated by both males and females."  
  
"You're going to keep the child right?" Samantha asked.  
  
"Seven is. I'm not ready to be a parent. She said that she would take care of everything herself."  
  
"So where do I fit into all of this?" Samantha asked.  
  
"Well Seven asked Janeway for some quarters but Janeway wouldn't give her any. I think she's doing it to punish Seven for keeping the child."  
  
"That's horrible," Samantha said getting angry about the Captain's behavior.  
  
"It gets worse," B'Elanna said uncomfortably. "I found her asleep in the cargo bay. Anybody could walk in whenever they wanted and could do god knows what to her. She needs a place to stay until the pregnancy is over."  
  
"Let me guess, you want Seven to stay with me," Samantha said.  
  
"I would let her stay with me, but we don't really get along. An angry Klingon is probably the last thing that she need now," B'Elanna said.  
  
"I'd love to have Seven stay with me, after all she is Naiomi's best friend."  
  
"Thanks Samantha, I owe you one," B'Elanna said as she returned to her quarters.  
  
B'Elanna stood outside her door, almost afraid to go in. She had just given Seven free reign to her home. She finally just had to suck it in and face the music. She quickly opened the door and stepped in before she lost her nerve.  
  
What she saw when she got inside shocked her. For the first time since she moved in her quarters were clean. She looked around, marveling at how well Seven had cleaned the place up. "Maybe having Seven around may not be such a bad idea after all," she thought to herself idly.  
  
As she looked towards the sofa she finally noticed Seven. She had fallen asleep on the sofa. "She isn't so bad when she's asleep," B'Elanna thought.  
  
She then pulled the blanket off of the chair she was standing next to wrapped it around Seven. "Yeah, most definitely better to have around when she's asleep," she said looking down at the sleeping form of Seven. "Maybe I shouldn't wake her, I can always send her to Samantha in the morning," B'Elanna thought as she went to her bedroom."  
  
"Torres to Samantha Wildman," B'Elanna said into her comm. badge.  
  
"Wildman here," answered Samantha.  
  
"Hey Sam, I was thinking. Seven just fell asleep, and she looks so peaceful. It would be a shame to wake her up now. Would it be okay if I sent her over in the morning?"  
  
"Sure B'Elanna, that's no problem," Samantha said as she closed the link.  
  
"What have I gotten myself into?" B'Elanna said as she got into bed.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	2. Writer's Note

For the Love of a Child Author's Note  
  
I really did enjoy writing this story. I was sitting at home one day and it just came to me, so I just had to write it down.  
  
CELINE JANEWAY: I'm glad you liked it, and there will be a new chapter most likely sometime on Monday.  
  
VOYAGER STORY READER: What can I say? I appreciate your honesty I really do. There is a reason why none of the stuff I write about really happened. IT IS FICTION, it's not supposed to be real, or depended on the ideas of other people. It does not matter if something is a canon fact or not. To be honest I really don't even know what 'canon fact' means. If you keep sticking to the rules that other people make up how far do you think you can go as a writer?  
  
CAP/31: It probably would have been more plausible if I picked a male crew member. The only problem is it would have been boring, and quite frankly easy to predict. It wouldn't leave anyone guessing, and most importantly review a story. I don't want possible in the stories I read or write, if I did I might as well just start writing documentaries. As for the male female receptive part, consider nanoprobes. They are quite possibly the most advanced piece of tech. the Borg have. It is inside their bodies, can turn organic matter into metallic implants. If that is possible why not other things?  
  
THE LIBRAN INIQUITY: I know the captain comes of harsh, and she definitely will be worse in the second chapter, but go with it. It will work itself out eventually. I really wanted to write a story where she wasn't a bad guy, so to the affect she will redeem herself. Eventually.  
  
LALALALAAA: Thank you once again for standing up for my stories. You're right about me not sticking to the conventional plots, mainly because there's so many of them out there. If people don't write something different the fanfic community gets smaller, and eventually people stop writing.  
  
ANONYMOUS21: I really appreciate the kind words, and if you've read some of the other responses to my reviews you'll notice I don't take insults lying down. I will defend my work from just about anyone that thinks it sucks, but I'm really glad to see people supporting my work.  
  
I know my stories aren't for everyone, and for that all I can say is check out the summary before you read it. If you don't like it then just leave it at that. I'm not just speaking for me when I say this. Telling someone that they're story sucks is probably the meanest thing you can do to them. This isn't the first time I've posted a story. I'm used to people telling me that they don't like my work, but for the people that just started writing and had the courage to put it on the internet for everyone to see, it hurts. What's worse is just because a few people don't like what they have to say they stop writing, and we could end up missing out on a really amazing story. 


	3. Where Can I Stay?

For The Love of a Child  
Part Two  
  
Seven woke up with a tired yawn. She had no idea having a child would tire her out this quickly. It was probably only going to get worse though. The baby was growing nine times faster than normal.  
  
Seven slowly stood up, and made her way to the washroom. Thanks to her nanoprobes she at least didn't have to deal with morning sickness. She took a quick shower and replicated a new set of clothes, before going to the kitchen to make some breakfast.  
  
"What should I make?" Seven thought to herself. "Perhaps something Lieutenant Torres would enjoy. I believe that she has expressed an interest in banana pancakes," Seven thought as she told the computer to replicate them, a bottle of maple syrup, and a pitcher of orange juice.  
  
As Seven began setting the plates, B'Elanna walked in freshly showered and changed. "What's all this?" she asked yawning.  
  
"I wished to thank you letting me rest hear last night. I hope breakfast is to your liking," Seven said as she sat down and poured herself a glass of orange juice.  
  
"Yeah, it's great Seven," B'Elanna said as she sat down and began eating. "How did you know that banana pancakes were my favorites?" she asked.  
  
"I did not," Seven said taking a bite of her pancakes. "I saw you replicated them a few weeks ago for breakfast."  
  
"Well, anytime you want to make me breakfast feel free," B'Elanna said as she took a sip of orange juice. "We better get going, the morning meeting starts in fifteen minutes," B'Elanna said as she stood up and started putting the dishes away.  
  
"Yes Lieutenant," Seven said as she put away the rest of the pancakes and ample syrup.  
  
As the two women made their way to the morning meeting a comfortable silence descended on them. Seven was relived that she hadn't upset the Lieutenant, and was keeping quite to avoid any arguments. B'Elanna on the other hand was lost in thought. She was still shocked by the fact that Seven was pregnant, and she indirectly the cause of it. She had no idea what she was going to do when the baby was actually born. Should she just ignore the child, pretend that she had nothing to do with her, or should she try to be a part of the baby's life?  
  
Both of the women's musings were cut short when they entered the ready room. It seemed like they spent a little too long at breakfast that morning because everyone else was already there. B'Elanna moved to her customary seat next to Tom, and Seven moved to the seat across from Tuvok.  
  
"Now that everyone is here we can begin," Janeway said starting the meeting. "Does anyone have any new business?" she asked.  
  
"Yes Captain," Tom said smiling. "Harry and I just finished all the modifications to the Fairhaven program. I was thinking we could have a grand re-opening today at the end of alpha shift."  
  
"That sounds like an excellent idea Tom, it'll be good for morale," Janeway said approving the idea.  
  
"Seven how long until you can get the sensor scan completed?" Janeway asked.  
  
"It should be completed in approximately 72 hours Captain," Seven said.  
  
"Why is it going to take so long?" Janeway asked. "You were able to finish the last sensor scan in a third of the time."  
  
"Due to my condition I require more sleep, and I tire more quickly," Seven said trying to down play what was happening.  
  
"What's going on Seven?" Neelix asked. "Are you going to be okay?"  
  
"I am well Mr. Neelix," Seven said hoping her would get the hint.  
  
"Then what's all this talk about your condition?" Neelix asked completely missing the hint.  
  
Seven sighed. She was going to have to explain the whole thing again. "When I beamed off of the planet yesterday something happened to the transporter. One of Lieutenant Torres's eggs was transported into my womb and bonded with one of my eggs. I am now pregnant."  
  
"Pregnant?" Neelix said smiling. "So in another nine months there is going to be a new baby on the ship?" Neelix asked smiling.  
  
"It will actually be in one month, the borg found that waiting nine months would be inefficient."  
  
"Wait does that mean the child will be born Borg?" Chakotay asked getting worried. He new that separating a mother from their child was a horrible thing to do, but having another active borg on Voyager was just too much of a risk.  
  
"NO," Seven almost shouted. "I would never bring a child into this world under those conditions," Seven said disgusted. "The baby will be born one quarter Klingon, and three quarters human."  
  
Chakotay sighed relived. "I'm sorry I had to ask Seven, it was just something we had to know."  
  
"Alright, let's try to keep the personal stuff out of the morning meetings from now on. You are all dismissed," Janeway said.  
  
"Captain may I speak to you privately?" Seven asked. She did not know why her mentor was giving her such a hard time about this. All she knew was that the way the older woman was acting was hurting her feelings.  
  
"Alright, but we'll have to make it quick," Janeway said taking a sip of her coffee as everyone else left.  
  
"Captain why do you hate me?" Seven asked in her usually blunt manor.  
  
"Why do you think I hate you," Janeway asked in an even tone.  
  
"You have told me to get rid of my child, and have refused to give me my own quarters. What have I done to you?" Seven asked again.  
  
"Seven you are just not ready to have a baby. You were only recently separated from the collective, and have just started to learn about your emotions. How can I expect you to care for another life?"  
  
"I may not be ready to be a mother Captain, I did not expect to become pregnant on that away mission, but I am. There is a life growing inside of me, that will be happy, that will be smart, a little person that can do anything they want in this world. I will not fail at this, I can not fail. I have only had this child for one day but, I will do absolutely anything I can to make sure it doesn't feel a single ounce of sadness. Creating a new life is the first good thing that I have done," Seven said, now with tears in her eyes.  
  
Janeway was shocked, she had no idea that Seven could feel so strongly about this, but she still believed that she could get through to her. "Seven as much as you want to take care of this child I still believe you are not ready," Janeway said firmly.  
  
"If I loose this child Captain, I will not have the strength to keep living. I have already lost my first child One. I will not be able to pick up the pieces for a second time," Seven said sadly.  
  
What Janeway said next surprised her. "The child should have been mine, not B'Elanna's."  
  
"What?" Seven asked not believing what the Captain had said.  
  
"The child that is growing inside of you should have been mine. I should be the father to your children. B'Elanna doesn't even care that she's a part of this. Hell she only let you keep it because she didn't want people to think of her as a baby killer. Every time I look at you know it's all I can think about. I want you to get rid of this child," Janeway shouted jealously. She had no idea how much her angry words were hurting the younger woman.  
  
"You are wrong," Seven said now openly weeping. "This child is not a mistake, it is a miracle, and I will never give it up," Seven said as she ran out of the ready room.  
  
When Seven ran out of the room Janeway came to her senses. "Oh god, what have I done?" she asked herself, sitting down heavily. "I pushed her too far, and now I probably lost any chance I had with her."  
  
(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)  
  
Seven ran out of the ready room, but she didn't know where to go. She didn't think it would be appropriate to be in B'Elanna's quarters without her. She didn't have a single place on Voyager that was just hers.  
  
Seven was just about to stop running when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. It caused her to double over and gasp in shock. Something was wrong with her baby, and for the first time in her life she was panicking. She didn't know what was going on, and most of all she had no idea how to fix it.  
  
Just as Seven was about to pass out from the pain Neelix walked around the corner. As soon as he saw Seven sprawled out on the floor he rushed over. "Seven are you okay? What happened?"  
  
"It's the baby," Seven gasped. "Something is wrong with my child. I do not know what is happening."  
  
"Emergency transport, two to sickbay," Neelix shouted as he grabbed onto Seven.  
  
When the two materialized in sickbay the doctor rushed over. "What happened?" he demanded as he lifted Seven onto a bio-bed.  
  
"I'm not sure," Neelix answered. "I found her on the floor breathing hard. She said something was wrong with her baby."  
  
The doctor immediately pulled out a medical tri-corder and started scanning Seven's stomach. After a few minutes he figured out what was wrong. "I think I have figured out what the problem is. Seven have you been in any stressful situations today?"  
  
"The Captain and I had a disagreement," was the only response Seven gave.  
  
"Seven you can't put yourself in situations like this," the doctor admonished. "I estimate that your baby will be born in approximately three weeks, and on top of that your baby is growing at a tremendous rate. It is using your energy almost as fast as you can produce it. If you do not stay calm and relaxed it could seriously jeopardize the health of your baby."  
  
"I promise doctor, I will do everything I can to protect my child," Seven said as she put her hands on her stomach. "I can feel my child already," she said as she felt the slight bump on her usually flat stomach.  
  
"Seven as of right now you are on maternity leave. I don't even want to here about you working until your baby is born," the doctor said in a stern voice.  
  
"Yes doctor." Seven agreed with the doctor, for the first time in her life without an argument.  
  
"Good, now is there anywhere you can stay? I don't like the idea of you staying in the cargo bay."  
  
"Lieutenant Torres has allowed me to spend last night in her quarters," Seven said.  
  
"Allowed?" the doctor asked with a snort.  
  
"What do you mean?" Seven asked confused.  
  
"Come on Seven, you're pregnant because of her. She should be on her knees begging for you to stay with her."  
  
"This was not B'Elanna's fault. It was a transporter malfunction. If anyone is to blame it is me. It was my nanoprobes that allowed me to become pregnant in the first place."  
  
"Seven," the doctor said with a sigh. "You can't allow B'Elanna to keep treating you this way."  
  
"Lieutenant Torres has done the nicest thing anyone has ever done to me. She has allowed me to keep my child, and for that I will always grateful."  
  
"Aren't you the least bit angry with her for wanting nothing to with this child?" the doctor asked incredulously.  
  
"No I am not. I can not afford to be angry with her. I do not wish to give her a reason to take my child from me."  
  
The doctor immediately calmed down after Seven was finished. He realized that this was something that Seven believed in strongly. It was not something he could force her into doing.  
  
"Alright Seven, I won't bring it up again," the doctor said. "Since B'Elanna has offered to take you in I want you to go directly there. You will go to sleep as soon as you get there, and you will not leave those quarters except to eat."  
  
"I will do as you say," Seven promised the doctor.  
  
"Good, computer beam Seven of nine directly to B'Elanna Torres's quarters. Authorization alpha 5672." The doctor said before Seven had time to protest.  
  
"I will go and inform B'Elanna of what is going on," the doctor said as he strolled out of sickbay.  
  
"How will I talk B'Elanna into letting Seven stay with her?" the doctor said as he walked to engineering. He had to show B'Elanna that Seven needed to stay with her. Not only because Seven needed someone to take care of her for the pregnancy, but because Seven needed other people in her life. She would never be able to expand her humanity if she didn't experience it.  
  
The doctor walked into engineering and started looking for B'Elanna. As the doors to engineering opened a second time the doctor turned around to see B'Elanna.  
  
"B'Elanna just the person I wanted to speak to," the doctor said smiling.  
  
"I'm kind of busy doc, make it fast," B'Elanna said impatiently  
  
"It's about Seven, since you are the other parent I thought you should know. She collapsed shortly after the morning meeting. It was due to stress, and the speed of the pregnancy. For the duration of it she will need to relax, and stay in familiar surroundings."  
  
"Don't worry about it doc, I got it covered," B'Elanna said trying to move past him.  
  
"What do you have planned?" the doctor asked curiously.  
  
"I've talked to Samantha Wildman. She said that Seven could stay with her."  
  
"That may not be in her best interests B'Elanna. Seven's nanoprobes have sped up the pregnancy by roughly nine times. She needs someone around that knows enough about her borg systems to help her in case something happens."  
  
"Let me guess, you want Seven to stay with me?" B'Elanna said catching on.  
  
"Next to Seven you know the most about her borg systems," the doctor said hoping that B'Elanna would agree.  
  
"She's only going to be staying until the baby is born right?" B'Elanna said finally giving in.  
  
"Yes, she'll leave as soon as the baby is born. Until then please try to be nice to her. She's going to be sleeping for most of the time, and any stress she feels won't be good for her or the baby."  
  
"Where is Seven now?" B'Elanna asked the doctor.  
  
"She just had a stress related incident, so I sent her to your quarters to rest."  
  
"What kind of stress related incident?"  
  
"She had an argument with the Captain. She had to emergency transport to sickbay," the doctor said solemnly.  
  
Even though B'Elanna and Seven didn't always get along she didn't want to see the younger woman get hurt. "Is she going to be okay?"  
  
"She should be fine, provided she get some rest," the doctor assured her.  
  
(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)  
  
"Doctor I do not-" Seven stopped speaking when she realized that the doctor had transported her.  
  
"I hop that this will not anger the Lieutenant," Seven thought to herself as she sat down on the sofa. "I promised I would not burden her with helping me raise my child. It was the only reason she agreed not to terminate her."  
  
Seven sighed as she looked around B'Elanna's quarters. This would probably be the closest that she would ever come to have a place of her own.  
  
Seven lay down on the sofa and pulled the blanket around her. She hoped that she would be able to think of something to do after she was properly rested. Hopefully she would figure it out before she outstayed her welcome.  
  
Just as Seven was about to fall asleep she heard loud voices coming from outside B'Elanna's quarters.  
  
"Come on B'Elanna. Let's get a drink at Sardenes. We almost never spend any time together anymore," Tom whined.  
  
"Look I told you Tom, I'm tired. Engineering was so backed up I didn't even get a chance to take a lunch break."  
  
"You can get something to eat at Sardenes," Tom said grabbing her arm.  
  
"Keep it down Tom, Seven is probably asleep. I can't just leave her here by herself. What if something happened while we were gone?" B'Elanna said as she opened the door.  
  
Tom walked in behind B'Elanna, and moved to the sofa to sit down. When he got there he found Seven curled up on one end with a blanket wrapped around her. Even though Tom knew she was pregnant he still had to admit she looked amazing.  
  
"Hi there Seven, how are you feeling?" he asked.  
  
"I am feeling well, thank you Lieutenant," Seven said.  
  
"Would you like to come down to Sardenes with us?" he asked before B'Elanna had a chance to interrupt.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	4. You're Not So Bad After All

Nala: Thanks I hope you like this part as well  
  
The Libran Inquity: Janeway won't be evil, at least in this fic  
  
EyeCandy: Actually I never read for the want of a child and I should probably avoid doing so. I don't want to accidentally steal someone's ideas. But please tell me if I do  
  
Kathryn Daniel: Well if you read my writer's note you'll know how I feel about flamers. Keep the criticism constructive please  
  
Celine Janeway: Thanks, and for the part about names it probably won't happen for the next couple of chapters. I am still trying to establish the personalities of the characters  
  
Nikki: Thank you, and I could not have said it better myself. I find stories that constantly 'stick to the rules' get a little boring after a while  
  
Marie Sheppard: I can't help it. I love writing stories that are a little risky.  
  
Raven Sage: Lets face it Seven and B'Elanna are the only ones that can go lesbian. All the fighting and arguing they did on the show is so easily arguable as sexual tension  
  
Kelani2539: Thanks, I'm just glad I didn't turn out to be one of those conformist writers that tried not to offend anyone by sacrificing the storyline  
  
For The Love of a Child  
Part Three  
  
"I do not wish to intrude," Seven said trying to decline the Lieutenant's invitation without seeming rude.  
  
"You won't be intruding Seven, Harry's going as well. It is part of the grand re-opening if the Fairhaven program." Tom said knowing that if he could talk Seven into it B'Elanna would cave in as well.  
  
"If you insist Lieutenant," Seven said relenting.  
  
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Tom asked. "Let's get going."  
  
Seven slowly removed the blanket and folded it up neatly before standing up.  
  
During Seven's nap her hair had fallen out of place. Some of the pins had fallen out while others still remained in place.  
  
"I will need a moment to prepare myself." Seven said as she pulled the pins out of her hair, and let it cascade down her back.  
  
"Seven the party's already started, besides your hair looks great the way it is," Tom complimented.  
  
"Thank You Lieutenant," Seven said as she smoothed out her hair.  
  
"Alright the sooner we get there the sooner we can leave," B'Elanna said. She had not originally wanted to go to this party but since Seven decided to go she had to make sure nothing happened to her.  
  
"Yes Lieutenant," Seven said as she addressed B'Elanna.  
  
Seven, B'Elanna and Tom made their way to the holo deck and stepped inside to find most of the senior staff. Even Tuvok was there.  
  
Harry met them as soon as they came in and guided them over to a table. As soon as the two men sat down they ordered a round of beers.  
  
"I am unable to digest alcohol ensign," Seven said addressing Harry. "Is that the only drink served in this establishment?" she asked.  
  
"No Seven, there's plenty of other stuff that you can drink that doesn't have any alcohol." Harry said as he flagged over the bar tender.  
  
"Shamus you better make that just three beers and an apple cider."  
  
"What's the matter lass can't hold your liquor?" Shamus asked smiling.  
  
"I am pregnant. Alcohol would not be beneficial to my child."  
  
"Pregnant, well then congratulations are in order lass. For the rest of the night your drinks are on the house," Shamus smiled.  
  
"Thank you, you are very kind," Seven said giving Shamus a small smile.  
  
"Wow Shamus, you never give out free drinks," Tom pointed out.  
  
"Aye, but I always had a soft spot for children," Shamus said smiling if possible even more brightly.  
  
When Shamus returned with the drinks he smiled at Seven again before returning to the bar.  
  
"Well what should we do first?" Harry asked.  
  
"How about we play some pool," Tom suggested.  
  
"Yeah we could play two on two, guys against the girls," Harry suggested.  
  
"Alright, get ready to loose," B'Elanna said as she finished her first drink and started getting in a good mood.  
  
They all moved to the empty pool table and selected their sticks.  
  
"Alright Seven the game is pretty simple," B'Elanna said explaining the rules of the game to Seven. "The balls are arranged into a triangle at the beginning of the game. The first person to shoot has to break the triangle with the white ball from this line," B'Elanna demonstrated.  
  
As the cue ball struck the triangle the other balls scattered across the table. One of the stripped balls landed in the corner pocket.  
  
"The first ball that you get in the pocket decides which ones you have to sink. In our case we have to sink the stripped balls. You can get them in, in any order you want, except for the eight ball. You have to save that one for last.  
  
B'Elanna lined up another one of the stripped balls and sunk it as well. She unfortunately missed the second shot though.  
  
"Oh, and Seven, when you mish a shot it's the next person's turn," B'Elanna said gesturing to Tom as he lined up his own shot.  
  
After Tom sank two of the solid balls he missed the third, bringing his turn to an end.  
  
"Alright it's your turn Seven," B'Elanna said pointing to the table.  
  
After carefully studying how the other players sank their balls she felt confident that she could do well. She tried to line up her shot as she had seen the other do but she could not seem to hold the stick correctly.  
  
B'Elanna noticed this and moved towards Seven to help after taking a sip of her beer.  
  
"Here Seven," B'Elanna said as she moved in behind Seven. She moved Seven's hands into the correct position and showed her how to line up her shot.  
  
After a second failed attempt to line up her shot correctly B'Elanna stood behind her again. Instead of removing her hands after Seven was in the correct position she held on and guided Seven's hands as she took her shot.  
  
With B'Elanna's help Seven was able to sink three more of the stripped balls before her turn was over.  
  
Harry then took his turn, but only managed to sink two of his balls allowing Seven and B'Elanna to remain in the lead.  
  
B'Elanna quickly finished her second beer, and was able to sink all of the stripped balls except for the eight ball.  
  
Tom took his turn next but was only able to sink the one ball. All Seven had to do was sink the eight ball and they would win.  
  
Seven again tried to line up her shot properly, but was unable to do so without B'Elanna's help.  
  
"Here let me help," B'Elanna said as she moved behind Seven and helped get into position and guided her shot.  
  
The eight ball shot across the table and sank into the corner pocket easily. Seven and B'Elanna had won the first game. B'Elanna gave Seven a quick hug happily. This was the first time that she was able to beat Tom at pool.  
  
Seven seemed a little shocked at first by the fact that she was hugged by B'Elanna, but dismissed it as part of celebrating.  
  
They played three more games, all of which were won by Seven and B'Elanna. Each game was followed by B'Elanna consuming a celebratory beer.  
  
"Maybe it's time we call it a night," Tom suggested.  
  
"Yeah, we do have duty shifts tomorrow morning," Harry added.  
  
"I also believe that I require rest," Seven agreed.  
  
"That actually reminds me Seven. How is it that you don't have to regenerate anymore?" Harry asked curiously.  
  
"My nanoprobes are now able to gather the energy they need from sleeping, eating, and absorbing light energy."  
  
"How are they able to do that?" Tom asked.  
  
"My nanoprobes have the ability to gain energy from numerous sources. The borg programmed them to receive energy directly from my alcove."  
  
"Why would they do that? Wouldn't it be smarter to set the nanoprobes to gather energy from many sources?" Harry asked.  
  
"It is another way for the queen to control her drones. If a drone is separated from the collective for a long period of time their individuality would re-assert it self. The queen would rather the drone be dead than be free."  
  
"Well anyway," Harry said changing the subject. "We should probably head home. You need your rest more than any of us Seven."  
  
"You are correct Ensign," Seven said as she turned to look for B'Elanna.  
  
As Seven, Tom and Harry were talking B'Elanna had gone for another drink, and by the time she came back the alcohol she had ingested looked like it was starting to take effect. B'Elanna was stumbling slightly as she made her way back to the group.  
  
"Do you need any help getting back B'Elanna?" Tom asked.  
  
"I'll be fine," B'Elanna said waving him off.  
  
"Well, if you're sure," Tom said as he and Harry left the holodeck.  
  
As the two senior officers exited the holodeck Seven turned to face the slightly tipsy B'Elanna.  
  
"Lieutenant you have duty shift tomorrow morning, perhaps we should leave," Seven suggested as she made her way to the door as well.  
  
"Wait a minute," B'Elanna said as she walked over to Seven and grabbed her elbow. "It's still way too early," she said stumbling again.  
  
"Lieutenant, I need to rest," Seven said as she tried to remove her arm from B'Elanna's grip. "Please."  
  
"Alright fine," B'Elanna said in a huff. "Let's go home," B'Elanna said as the two women left the holodeck.  
  
During the trip back B'Elanna began to lean heavily on Seven, who had to struggle to keep them both from falling over.  
  
"Lieutenant please stand up," Seven said to B'Elanna. "I can not support your weight."  
  
The only response that Seven was able get from B'Elanna was a loud grunt as she stopped leaning against Seven but still kept a firm hold on her arm.  
  
As they finally made it to B'Elanna's quarters, Seven led B'Elanna into her room and left her to change.  
  
Seven walked over to the replicator and started searching through the list to find something she could replicate to sleep in. She had found out recently that her bio-suit was not the most comfortable thing to sleep in.  
  
After a few minutes of searching she found a suitable sleeping garment. It was a silk a sleeve less night dress that went to her ankles.  
  
When the replicator finished making her night dress Seven picked it up and went to the bathroom to change.  
  
(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)  
  
B'Elanna's mind started to clear up a little as she sat on her bed. As she looked down at herself she realized that she hadn't changed and was feeling a little thirsty.  
  
B'Elanna quickly changed into a pair of baggy pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, and then made her way into the kitchen. She poured her self a glass of water and was about to go back to her own room when she saw Seven exiting the bathroom.  
  
She was in a word, beautiful. Her hair was down and softly framing her face and the night dress she wore hugged her soft curves snugly. It gave Seven the look of an elegant beauty, something from a fairytale.  
  
"Seven you look. Wow," B'Elanna said surprised as she moved closer to get a better look.  
  
"Thank you Lieutenant," Seven said as she shyly made her way to the sofa.  
  
B'Elanna watched as Seven tried to make herself comfortable on the sofa. For some reason it made her feel guilty. Seven was a pregnant woman, and carrying a child that was approximately a month into development. She needed to get Seven a proper bed.  
  
"Wait Seven, that sofa probably isn't all that comfortable, especially for spending the night on," B'Elanna said.  
  
"It is sufficient," Seven said. She did not want to seem ungrateful after everything that B'Elanna had done for her.  
  
"No it isn't Seven," B'Elanna disagreed. "You're pregnant, and you should have your own bed to sleep in."  
  
"There is insufficient room in your quarters for a second bed lieutenant," Seven pointed out.  
  
"Then I guess we can share mine until we figure something out," B'Elanna said impulsively.  
  
"I do not believe that is the best course of action," Seven said hoping that B'Elanna would drop the subject. The last thing that Seven wanted to do was intrude on B'Elanna's personal space.  
  
A sudden wave of annoyance came over B'Elanna. "Who does she think she is?" B'Elanna thought. "Why dose she always have to make things so difficult? Well I'll show her."  
  
"Too bad," B'Elanna said as she knelt down and lifted Seven into her arms and walked towards her bedroom.  
  
Seven gasped as B'Elanna picked her up and wound her arms tightly around the older woman. "What are you doing Lieutenant?" she asked.  
  
"Taking you to bed," B'Elanna answered simply.  
  
"I will sleep on the sofa," Seven stated.  
  
"No you won't," B'Elanna countered. "And stop arguing, were already here."  
  
"Yes Lieutenant," Seven said giving in. By the look in B'Elanna's eyes she knew this was one argument she was not going to win.  
  
"This is weird," B'Elanna said confused. "I thought that all of your borg implant would make you heavier, but you don't weigh anymore than ninety pounds."  
  
"A drone's range of movement would be severely hindered with heavy amour and implants. All of implants are constructed with super light weight duranium and weight reduction systems. If all the implants in my body were weighed it would equal negative seven pounds."  
  
"Interesting," B'Elanna said as she put Seven down on the bed and pulled the covers over her.  
  
B'Elanna got in on the other side of the bed and called for lights out. After only a few minutes she heard Seven's breathing even out as she reached REM sleep.  
  
She looked at the peacefully sleeping face of Seven's and had the urge to get closer to the woman. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt since Seven was already asleep she moved in closer, until their bodies were touching.  
  
B'Elanna slowly put her arm around Seven's waist, but almost pulled away as Seven began to move again. She relaxed when she realized that Seven was only rolling over in her sleep until she felt the younger woman's head resting on her chest, and felt her arm wrap around her waist lightly.  
  
B'Elanna looked down at the younger woman. "She looks so human like this," B'Elanna thought as kissed her head lightly and wrapped her free arm around her.  
  
(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)(*()*)  
  
The next morning B'Elanna was the first to wake up, and for the first time in a long time she felt completely at peace. She and Seven had moved slightly in their sleep and now B'Elanna had both her arms wrapped around the still sleeping Seven and both her legs were tangled with Sevens.  
  
As the sleepiness left here eyes she realized her predicament. How would she explain this to Seven? And if she tried to move now she would almost certainly wake her up anyway.  
  
B'Elanna decided to risk it and slowly moved her arms away from Seven, but it only caused her to snuggle closer, and murmur in her sleep. "What am I going to do?" B'Elanna thought getting a little frantic.  
  
"Please stop moving Lieutenant," Seven said in a sleepy voice." I have just gotten comfortable," Seven thought. "I wish the lieutenant would allow me to sleep a little longer."  
  
Seven's eyes snapped open as she realized what had happened. "I must have moved to her side of the bed while I was sleeping," Seven thought.  
  
"I apologize lieutenant," Seven said as she tried move away from B'Elanna. "I did not realize.," Seven trailed off when she saw the smirk on B'Elanna's face.  
  
"You know, you're a lot more fun when you're all flustered like this," B'Elanna said as she started to laugh quietly.  
  
"This amuses you," Seven stated as she tried to move away from B'Elanna.  
  
"Very much," B'Elanna said now openly chuckling as she finally released the younger woman.  
  
Seven got off the bed quickly and made her way to the washroom and closed the door behind her. "Perhaps the lieutenant does not hate me after all," Seven thought as she finished washing up.  
  
"I enjoy the Lieutenant's company much more when we are not arguing," Seven though as she went into the kitchen and started making breakfast.  
  
As Seven finished laying out the scrambled eggs and toast B'Elanna came out of the washroom fully dressed for her duty shift.  
  
"What's all this?" B'Elanna said as she looked at the table.  
  
"It is breakfast," Seven stated as she poured herself a glass of orange juice.  
  
B'Elanna sat down next to Seven and took a bite of her eggs. "These are amazing Seven," B'Elanna said as she poured herself a glass of juice. "When did you learn to cook so well?"  
  
"I am glad that you enjoy them," Seven said giving her a slight smile. "After sampling some of Neelix's cuisine I decided to do some research on the proper methods of preparing food."  
  
"You must save a lot of replicator rations this way. It takes a lot less energy to replicate the ingredients and cook the food yourself," B'Elanna complemented as she finished off her eggs.  
  
"Thank you Lieutenant, but if you do not leave now you will be late for your duty shift," Seven said as she started to clear away the table.  
  
"You're right," B'Elanna said standing up. "I'll see you tonight Seven," she said as she kissed Seven on the cheek and rushed out the door.  
  
B'Elanna was half way down to the morning meeting before she realized what she did. "Did I just kiss Seven?" B'Elanna thought to herself stopping. "Oh no, I'm going to be late," B'Elanna realized as she started moving again.  
  
When B'Elanna made it to the morning meeting she was the last to arrive. She took her seat and waited for the Captain to start talking.  
  
"Do we have any new business to discuss?" Janeway asked, almost robotically.  
  
B'Elanna frowned at this. The Captain was not her usual optimistic self. She was about to ask what was wrong when she realized it probably had something to do with her argument with Seven. What ever the two talked about seemed to hit Janeway as hard as it hit Seven.  
  
For the rest of the meeting B'Elanna thought about what could have happened between Janeway and Seven, so she didn't even realize when the meeting ended and Janeway asked her to stay behind.  
  
"B'Elanna?" Janeway asked when she couldn't get a response out of her.  
  
This brought B'Elanna back to reality, "yes Captain?"  
  
"I was asking you how Seven was doing?"  
  
"Oh, she's fine."  
  
"Did she tell you anything about our argument?"  
  
"Nothing really, she was taking a nap when I came home last night. Why?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"It's nothing B'Elanna, but could you tell her I'm sorry? And I would really like to talk to her," Janeway almost pleaded.  
  
"Sure Captain," B'Elanna said now really beginning to wonder what the two women had talked about.  
  
"Well I don't want to keep you any longer," Janeway said dismissing B'Elanna. "You probably have a lot of work to get done."  
  
B'Elanna stood up and made her way out the door, but just as she turned in the direction of the turbo lift she ran into Tom.  
  
"Hey B'Elanna, do you want to grab some dinner tonight?" Tom asked.  
  
"I can't Tom, I told Seven I would be home tonight."  
  
"So? Just tell her you can't make it," Tom said.  
  
"I'm worried about her, every time I see her she's sleeping. I should be their in case anything happens."  
  
"Do you here yourself?" Tom asked getting annoyed. "Who are you in a relationship with, Seven or me?"  
  
"Just what are you getting at?" B'Elanna asked getting annoyed herself.  
  
"It was only a week ago that you were complaining about how annoying she was, and now you're telling me you can't do anything because Seven might need your help? What the hell is going on between the two of you?"  
  
"That's enough," B'Elanna seethed. "There is nothing going on between me and Seven. Don't talk to me until you grow up," B'Elanna said storming off.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	5. Arguments

For the Love of a Child  
Part Four  
  
"I can't believe him," B'Elanna thought. She was still fuming over what Paris had said just a few moments ago.  
  
"Sure we're not fighting quite as much as we used to but that doesn't mean that anything is going on. Besides, I know the most about Seven's implants. If anything happened to her I would be the best person to fix it," B'Elanna rationalized.  
  
~***~  
  
Seven didn't move an inch after B'Elanna left. The only thought running through her mind was "Lieutenant Torres just kissed me."  
  
After a few moments of just standing there Seven decided to get started on the rest of the day. She had realized that even with all the extra sleep she was getting she still had a large amount of free time.  
  
"I should visit Naiomi Wildman." Seven thought after a moment. "I have not spoken with her since the away mission."  
  
Seven tapped her comm. badge and hailed Naiomi Wildman.  
  
"Seven of nine to Naiomi Wildman."  
  
"Hey Seven, what's up?"  
  
"I would like to know if you would like to spend the day with me."  
  
"That would be great Seven. I don't have any lessons today." Naiomi said getting excited.  
  
"Would you like to visit the holodeck?"  
  
"Sure, I'll come over right now!"  
  
"I will see you soon," Seven said as she closed the link.  
  
"Perhaps this would be the best time to inform Naiomi of my pregnancy," Seven thought as she cleaned and out away the breakfast dishes.  
  
Just as she finished she heard the door chime. She walked over to the door and greeted a very happy Naiomi Wildman.  
  
"Hi Seven, what do you want to do?" Naiomi asked.  
  
"I have something to tell you." Seven said finding it hard to put into words what was happening.  
  
"Is it about why you're living with B'Elanna now?"  
  
"Partly," Seven agreed. "Do you remember when I went on the away mission?"  
  
"Yeah, you said that you would pick some flowers for me," Naiomi said. "But there was an accident when you beamed up."  
  
"The accident happened during transport. One of Lieutenant Torres's eggs was transported into my womb, and my nanoprobes bonded it with one of my eggs. I am pregnant," Seven said looking at Naiomi for any type of reaction.  
  
"That's great Seven," Naiomi said smiling. "I know that you're going to make a great mom," she added knowing that Seven would be afraid she might become the same kind of parent hers were.  
  
"I am happy that you approve," Seven said sincerely.  
  
"How long will it be until the baby is born?" Naiomi asked.  
  
"The baby will be born in 26 days."  
  
"Wow, how do you know the exact day the baby is going to be born?"  
  
"My nanoprobes are constantly monitoring the fetus. I know everything that is happening when it is happening."  
  
"Do you know if it's going to be a boy or a girl?"  
  
"It will be a girl, both the lieutenant and I have X chromosomes. Only males have the necessary Y chromosome," Seven explained.  
  
"This is so great," Naiomi said enthusiastically. "There's finally going to be someone closer to my age on the ship."  
  
"Yes," Seven said smiling as well. "I can not wait until she is born."  
  
"How about we play some Kadis Kot in the mess hall?" Naiomi asked.  
  
~***~  
  
Ever since B'Elanna walked into engineering she was like a woman possessed. She was in a foul mood and made sure that everyone knew it. Luckily for the rest of the staff she had decided to work by herself.  
  
"Damn you Tom," B'Elanna thought. "Why the hell did we start going out in the first place? All you can think about is yourself."  
  
B'Elanna looked down at the paperwork she was doing. Since she knew she wouldn't be able to get along with the rest of engineering staff she decided that she might as well get started on the paper work she had been putting off.  
  
A knock at the door broke B'Elanna away from her thoughts, and she watched as none other than Tom Paris walked in carrying a bouquet of flowers.  
  
"B'Elanna I know you're mad at me but please hear me out," Tom said as he made placed the flowers on her desk. "I was a jerk this morning, and I realize that now."  
  
"Alright talk," B'Elanna said relenting.  
  
"I guess I was just jealous about all the time you were spending with Seven. It felt like I was being replaced by her and lashed out at you."  
  
"Seven is not going to replace you," B'Elanna said, her gaze softening. "She just needs to be taken care of right now."  
  
"I know," Tom said with a sigh. "I just want to make sure you don't get hurt."  
  
"What are you talking about?" B'Elanna asked confused.  
  
"Seven is carrying your child B'Elanna. With your sense of honor she could probably get you to do anything she wanted."  
  
"Seven wouldn't do that," B'Elanna said beginning to doubt her words a little. "Seven is way too direct for something like that."  
  
"Look at the facts," Tom said picking up on B'Elanna's doubt. "She went from having no quarters to sharing the third largest on the ship, and now I hear she's staying with you for the entire pregnancy?"  
  
"Well she has been making me feel a little guilty about not helping her with the pregnancy," B'Elanna admitted reluctantly.  
  
"We can do something another night B'Elanna, but tonight I think you should have a talk with Seven," Tom said as he left the office.  
  
~***~  
  
Seven and Naiomi had spent most of the day together, playing Kadis Kot and catching up on what they had missed over the past few days.  
  
"Seven have you thought about names for the baby yet?" Naiomi asked.  
  
"I had not taken the time to consider this?" Seven said. "Is a choice of name significant?" she asked a little worried.  
  
"Probably not until the baby is born, but my mom said she was thinking about my name for a few months before I was born," Naiomi stated.  
  
"How did your mother choose your name?" Seven asked. "Is there a set procedure?"  
  
"Well my mom named me after my grandmother, but some people pick a name that just sounds nice."  
  
"I do not have any biological family to name my child after," Seven said disappointed.  
  
"Well maybe you can make up a name." Naiomi offered.  
  
"How do I 'make up' a name?" Seven asked.  
  
"You just have to think about something you like, and then figure out a name that sounds like it."  
  
"Thank you Naiomi, you have given me much to think about, but I must return to Lieutenant Torres's quarters."  
  
"That's okay Seven. I should go home for dinner too."  
  
~***~  
  
B'Elanna was, to put it simply pissed as she made her way home. She had spent the whole day thinking about what Tom said, and had convinced herself that Seven was trying to take advantage of her.  
  
She stormed in the door, but stopped abruptly when she saw Seven. The younger woman was coming out of the kitchen carrying two plates of fettuccini alfredo, and there was a bowl of salad on the table. It was B'Elanna's favorite food.  
  
"Seven we need to talk," B'Elanna said still trying to stay angry.  
  
"Of course Lieutenant," Seven said as she put a stasis field around the table.  
  
"We need to set up some ground rules for you staying here."  
  
"I will obey any rules that you set down Lieutenant."  
  
"Look Seven I-" B'Elanna said stopping abruptly. "What did you say?"  
  
"I will do what ever you ask of me Lieutenant," Seven said hoping that it would be enough to stop the ensuing argument.  
  
'She's trying to manipulate me again' B'Elanna thought. "Why would you agree to follow orders now?"  
  
"Because I am afraid of the alternative," Seven admitted reluctantly.  
  
"What do you mean? What alternative?" B'Elanna asked, still worried that Seven was planning something.  
  
"You have more power over me now than any other person in the universe, including the borg queen." Seven explained. "Besides my self, you know the most about my borg implants. If anything happened to my child you would be the only one on Voyager that could save her."  
  
"You'd do all of this on the off chance that something would happen to the baby?" B'Elanna asked incredulously. "The chances of something bad happening are almost non-existent."  
  
"It is not only that Lieutenant," Seven said sadly. "You still have the right to terminate my pregnancy. I will not be able to live with myself if something happens to this child Lieutenant."  
  
"If you care about this baby so much then why are you always trying to make me feel guilty about not helping?" B'Elanna shouted, starting to get emotional herself.  
  
"Please Lieutenant," Seven said sinking to her knees in front of B'Elanna. "I am begging you please do not take away my child," she said now openly weeping. "It was not my intention to make you feel guilty. Please, I will do whatever you ask of me."  
  
The only thing running through B'Elanna's mind as she watched Seven begging on her hands and knees was 'I am such an asshole.'  
  
"Seven I'm sorry, please stop crying," B'Elanna said as she kneeled down beside Seven and pulled the crying woman into her arms. "I was wrong. I promise nothing is going to happen to the baby. I will never terminate the pregnancy."  
  
"I apologize Lieutenant," Seven said still crying. "I have become overly emotional since the pregnancy began. I will try to control myself."  
  
As bad as B'Elanna felt about not helping Seven enough with the pregnancy, this was much worse. After everything that she had done, after al the things that she had accused Seven of doing, the younger woman was apologizing to her.  
  
"Seven you don't have anything to be sorry for," she said as she rubbed her back soothingly. "I'm sorry. I should never have said any of the things that I did."  
  
"I do not wish to upset you Lieutenant, please tell me the next time that I do something to upset you, and I will stop immediately," Seven said as she pulled away from B'Elanna's embrace.  
  
"You didn't do anything wrong Seven," B'Elanna said as she let go of Seven reluctantly. "I was stupid to believe you could even think about manipulating someone."  
  
"Why did you believe I would try to manipulate you?" Seven asked as she wiped away her tears.  
  
"It was just something stupid that Tom said," B'Elanna said.  
  
"Why does Tom Paris hate me?" Seven asked. "Did I do something to offend him?"  
  
"What are you talking about Seven? Tom doesn't hate you.  
  
"Since the time that Mr. Paris found out about my pregnancy he has been hostile towards me. I do not know what to do."  
  
"He's just feeling jealous about all the time I'm spending with you. He sees you as some kind of threat to our relationship."  
  
"I do not wish to interfere with you relationship with Mr. Paris. I will leave if you want me to."  
  
"What? And go back to the cargo bay where just anyone can walk in whenever they want? I don't think so. Once Tom realizes he has nothing to worry about everything will be fine." B'Elanna promised.  
  
"Thank you Lieutenant."  
  
"That's another thing that's been bugging me Seven. Why are you always calling me Lieutenant?"  
  
"It is your designation," Seven stated.  
  
"No, that's my rank. My name is B'Elanna, and if you're going to be living here you should call me by my name."  
  
"Does calling someone by their first name mean that they are friends?" Seven asked.  
  
"It does Seven. I want us to be friends," B'Elanna said.  
  
"I would also like that very much," Seven said smiling.  
  
"Good. Let's enjoy our new friendship over dinner," B'Elanna said as she helped Seven to stand up.  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you Seven. The Captain wants to talk to you. She said she was sorry about your argument. What was that about anyway?"  
  
"She is jealous of the fact that you are the father of the baby. She wanted me to get rid of her because the baby was not hers."  
  
"Do you want to start a relationship with her?" B'Elanna asked hoping for a little gossip.  
  
"The Captain would not be a suitable choice for a mate. Her first priority will always be to Voyager. The baby and I would need someone that would be there when we needed them."  
  
"I'll clean this up," B'Elanna offered. "Why don't you get some rest?"  
  
"I will comply," Seven said as she moved towards the sofa.  
  
"Oh no you don't Seven! I'll carry you to bed again if I have to," B'Elanna said as she rushed over and grabbed Seven's hand.  
  
"Are you sure B'Elanna?" Seven asked. "Please tell me if I am inconveniencing you."  
  
"It's not a problem Seven. Just go to bed," B'Elanna said as she ushered Seven into the bedroom.  
  
B'Elanna finished cleaning up the plates and began to look over the engineering projects that needed to be completed.  
  
Just as she began to look through the pads her comm. badge chirped.  
  
"Paris to Torres."  
  
"Torres here."  
  
"Did you talk to Seven?"  
  
"I was wrong about everything," B'Elanna said in a tired voice.  
  
"What are you talking about? Did she try to manipulate you again?" Tom asked a little annoyed.  
  
"She wasn't manipulating me Tom. I was manipulating her."  
  
"What are you talking about? She was the one making you feel bad about not helping her?"  
  
"She didn't mean to do that. I never promised her that I would let her keep the baby."  
  
"What does that have anything to do with it?" Tom asked in a snotty voice.  
  
"It has everything to do with it," B'Elanna said beginning to wonder about Tom intelligence. "She thought that I would terminate the pregnancy if she didn't do everything that I wanted."  
  
"That's just crazy B'Elanna. You wouldn't do that. She must have been lying to you again."  
  
"Don't you get it Tom?" B'Elanna hissed. "Seven was on her hands and knees begging me not to take away her baby. She said that I have more power over her than anyone else in the universe, including the borg queen."  
  
"I still think she's just trying to make you feel guilty," Tom said stubbornly.  
  
"Why don't you grow up Tom? And maybe start thinking about people other than yourself for once." B'Elanna said as she closed the link angrily.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	6. Changes

Please, Please Review The more reviews I get, the faster I write  
  
trekkerpoet29: keep reading, don't base your judgments just on the first chapter  
  
Psyco_teen: If you thought Tom was a jerk then, check this out  
  
ezri_candy: evolutions I is kind of being re-tooled, don't expect a new chapter really soon  
  
JadziaKathryn: I;m not really sure what you mean by more emotion, can you give me an example?  
  
For the Love of a Child  
Part Five  
  
Seven woke up the next morning feeling relaxed and comfortable. It was much more enjoyable to sleep in a bed than to regenerate.  
  
Seven sat up and looked around, but she didn't see B'Elanna anywhere in the bedroom. 'Perhaps she went to engineering early,' Seven thought, feeling a little upset that B'Elanna didn't wait for her to wake up.  
  
Feeling hungry, Seven decide to get dressed and have breakfast. After slipping on her bio-suit she looked down at her stomach. Seven still held her figure but, there was a noticeable bump on her usually flat stomach. She smiled at this. The baby was growing so quickly.  
  
When Seven entered the kitchen she was a little shocked to see B'Elanna moving around the kitchen trying to make breakfast. She had apparently started making pancakes, but most of the ingredients were on the floor or smeared on the plates.  
  
"Good morning B'Elanna," Seven said amused at the amount of food covering B'Elanna.  
  
"Seven!" B'Elanna said surprised as she quickly turned around. "You're still supposed to be asleep. I was going to have breakfast ready when you woke up."  
  
"You did not have to go to the trouble." Seven said looking around at the mess that B'Elanna had made, "but thank you for trying."  
  
"I made a huge mess, didn't I?" B'Elanna said as she looked around the kitchen for the first time.  
  
"Yes," Seven said as she tried to contain a laugh.  
  
"Well since I'm obviously not a cook." B'Elanna said smiling, "how about we go down to the mess hall for breakfast? It'll be my treat."  
  
"I would like that." Seven said as the two women made their way to the mess hall, both of them deciding to clean up the kitchen later.  
  
"Do you need to go to engineering B'Elanna?" Seven asked.  
  
"Not today, it's my day off," B'Elanna explained.  
  
~***~  
  
'Alright today is the day that I talk to Seven,' Janeway thought as she stood in her ready room. 'She has to know how I feel.'  
  
"Computer state the location of Seven of Nine," she said.  
  
"Seven of Nine is currently in the mess hall," the computer answered.  
  
'I better get down there before I loose my nerve.' Janeway thought as she walked out of her ready room, stopping briefly to tell Chakotay that he had the bridge.  
  
When Janeway entered the mess hall, she noticed Seven and B'Elanna were the only ones sitting in the mess hall. They were talking quietly as they enjoyed their breakfast.  
  
'Don't loose your nerve,' Janeway reminded herself as she walked up to the two women.  
  
"Hello Captain," Seven said as she unconsciously moved away from Janeway.  
  
"Hi, Seven, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute," Janeway said a little upset that Seven felt she had to move away from her.  
  
"Maybe, I should give you some privacy," B'Elanna said standing up.  
  
Seven quickly placed her hand on B'Elanna's arm. "No, please stay," Seven said a tinge of panic in her voice.  
  
"Sure Seven," B'Elanna said as she sat back down. 'Janeway must have really scared her,' she thought.  
  
"Yes please stay B'Elanna," Janeway said. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable Seven."  
  
"I want to apologize for the way that I acted, and the way I treated you Seven. I care about you, and what I said was completely out of line, as a Captain and as a friend. Do you think that you can ever forgive me?" Janeway asked sincerely.  
  
"I accept your apology Captain, but it will take some time before I am ready to trust you again."  
  
"I know Seven, I'll be here whenever you're ready to talk to me again," Janeway said as she left the mess hall.  
  
"Well that was shocking, I don't think I've ever seen Janeway apologize before," B'Elanna said when she was sure Janeway had left the mess hall.  
  
"The Captain still wishes to begin a relationship with me," Seven said as she began to eat her breakfast again.  
  
"So if you're not interested in the Captain, is there anyone else?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"Truthfully I had no plans to start a relationship with anyone on Voyager. Since I have become pregnant I have had even less time to think about it."  
  
"So is there anyone on Voyager you like?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"No, and it would be difficult to start a relationship now. I will have a child soon, and this will consume most of my free time."  
  
"What about after the baby is a few years old?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"I will discuss it with the baby, and decide then," Seven said.  
  
"Is there anything you wanted to do today?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"I believe that I will need new clothing," Seven said as she looked down at her bio-suit. "My bio-suit is beginning to feel constricting."  
  
"Do you want some company?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"That would be nice," Seven said as the pair left the mess hall.  
  
~***~  
  
'I can't believe that bitch.' Paris thought fuming. 'Seven is not going to steal my girlfriend from me. I just need a way to prove to everyone that Seven is trying to manipulate us.'  
  
'Seven doesn't know all that much about humans. Maybe I can use that? If I can just talk to her alone for a while I can probably get her to admit it without even realizing it.'  
  
"Computer what is the location of Seven of nine?" Paris asked.  
  
"Seven of nine is currently in sick bay?" The computer answered.  
  
"Who else is in sick bay with her?"  
  
"B'Elanna Torres and the doctor are also in sick bay."  
  
'Damn, I'm going to have to wait until Seven is alone. There's no way I'll be able to talk to her with B'Elanna around.' Paris thought. 'I need a way to get B'Elanna away from her for a couple of hours.'  
  
~***~  
  
"Well Seven you really don't need to wear the bio-suit anymore," the doctor explained. "You only needed it in the beginning because your implants were still adapting to the changes in your body."  
  
"Is there any material that I am unable to construct my clothing from?" Seven asked.  
  
"You can use anything you want Seven," the doctor assured her.  
  
"So, what kind of clothes do you want Seven?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"I am unsure. How many types of clothing are there?"  
  
"A lot," B'Elanna answered. "You have literally hundred of years worth of styles to look through."  
  
"Are there any styles pertaining to pregnant women?" Seven asked.  
  
"Yeah, they're called maternity clothes. They usually include an expanded midsection."  
  
"Perhaps I should start with those," Seven said.  
  
Seven walked to one of the consoles in sick bay, and began searching the data base for maternity clothes she liked. After a few minutes Seven came across a style that she liked. It was a long flowing dress that had a slightly expanded mid section, which was perfect for her current rate of pregnancy.  
  
"I like this one," Seven said as she pointed to the screen.  
  
"Nice choice," B'Elanna said as she looked over Seven's shoulder. "What color do you want it in?"  
  
"I would prefer a light yellow," Seven said thoughtfully.  
  
"You should make some shoes to go with it," B'Elanna suggested. "Your shoes don't really come of your bio-suit."  
  
"What do you suggest B'Elanna?" Seven asked curiously.  
  
"Well you could try these," B'Elanna said as she leaned over and tapped a few keys on the console.  
  
The picture that B'Elanna brought up was a pair of sandals, with synthetic, brown leather straps.  
  
Seven went to the replicator and created the dress and sandals, then walked into the examination room to change.  
  
"So how are things going with Seven?" the doctor asked.  
  
"It's going a lot better than I thought it would," B'Elanna said honestly. "I though for sure that we would be at each others throats before the end of the first day."  
  
"She does have a way of growing on you doesn't she?" The doctor said fondly.  
  
"I think it's her innocence. Even after everything that the borg put her through she is still so pure." B'Elanna said agreeing.  
  
"Take care of her B'Elanna. She needs people to look out for her."  
  
"I will," B'Elanna promised.  
  
"Is the dress suitable?" Seven asked as she stepped back into the room.  
  
"You look nice." B'Elanna said as she walked over, "but something is off."  
  
"I do not understand." Seven said confused. "I am sure that I put the garment on correctly."  
  
"I know," B'Elanna said as inspiration struck her. She reached behind Seven's head and removed the pins from her hair. "You look better with your hair down," B'Elanna said as she smoothed out Seven's hair with her fingers.  
  
"Thank you lieutenant," Seven said as she blushed a little at B'Elanna's compliment.  
  
"Come on," B'Elanna said as she took Seven's hand. "I have to make a quick stop in engineering."  
  
"Yes B'Elanna," Seven said as she allowed herself to be led out sick bay.  
  
B'Elanna walked into engineering with Seven still in tow. A few people turned to look at the pair in shock. It was only a few weeks ago that the two were fighting each other tooth and nail.  
  
"Don't I give you guys enough work to do?" B'Elanna asked a little amused.  
  
The staff quickly resumed their work, some not sure if B'Elanna was serious, the rest not wanting to risk it.  
  
"Carey," B'Elanna said flagging over the second in command for engineering. "How is the analysis of the warp core going?"  
  
"Already done," Carey answered. "I left the results in your office."  
  
"Thanks Carey," B'Elanna said as she walked to her office. "Come on Seven, this will only take a few minutes," she said as she lead Seven to her office.  
  
"Have a seat Seven," B'Elanna said as she motioned towards her chair.  
  
"Thank you B'Elanna."  
  
After a few minutes of waiting Seven realized she was close to falling asleep. If she did not get back to B'Elanna's quarters soon she would probably fall asleep in the chair.  
  
"B'Elanna," Seven interrupted. "I believe that I should rest now."  
  
"Do you always feel this tired?" B'Elanna asked a little worried.  
  
"It is normal for my rate of pregnancy," Seven assured her. "The baby needs a larger amount of energy and nourishment than a normal pregnancy. The most efficient way to provide this is with more rest."  
  
"Why don't you go back home Seven? I'll bring you some dinner in a couple of hours."  
  
"Thank you B'Elanna," Seven said as she left engineering.  
  
~***~  
  
"Seven of nine is no longer on the same deck as B'Elanna Torres," the computer informed Paris.  
  
'Perfect' Paris thought. 'I can finally set things straight with Seven.'  
  
"Computer what is the location of Seven of Nine?"  
  
"Seven of nine is currently in B'Elanna Torres's quarters."  
  
Paris quickly made his way to the turbo lift, and B'Elanna's quarters. B'Elanna would probably be in engineering for a couple of hours, no one would get in the way of what was his this time.  
  
When Paris reached B'Elanna's quarters he felt even more jealous for the fact that Seven could come and go from B'Elanna's quarters whenever she wanted but Paris still had to have B'Elanna's permission.  
  
Paris pressed the entry chime and waited impatiently for Seven to answer the door.  
  
Seven opened the door and came face to face with an angry Tom Paris. "B'Elanna is not here. How may I help you lieutenant?" Seven said trying to ignore Paris's glare.  
  
"I'm not here to talk to B'Elanna. I'm here to talk to you Seven." Tom said as he pushed past Seven into B'Elanna's quarters.  
  
"What would you like to speak to me about?" Seven asked as she calmly sat down on the sofa. She hoped that by staying calm it would diffuse Tom's anger.  
  
"What the hell has been going on with you and B'Elanna?" Tom asked as he began to pace.  
  
"I am unsure of what you mean." Seven said.  
  
"Don't give me that, I know that B'Elanna has been spending a lot of time with you, more time than she ever spent with me," Tom added as an afterthought.  
  
"She has simply allowed me to stay with her for the pregnancy."  
  
"Why do you to stay with her? You've got a perfectly good place to stay in the cargo bay."  
  
"I was originally planning on staying in the cargo bay. B'Elanna found me when I was sleeping and decided that I would not remain there."  
  
"So you automatically get to stay with her? Don't give me that, I know you're just trying to control her."  
  
"I do not understand." Seven said feeling hurt. "Why would I wish to control anyone?"  
  
"You're borg, I think that's reason enough," Paris said self righteously.  
  
"I have been severed from the collective," Seven said as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "I do not want to go back, I do not wish to become like that again."  
  
"Don't give me those fake tears," Tom said angrily. "I want you to stay away from B'Elanna. I won't let you or your unnatural bastard child ruins her life."  
  
Tom's words cut through Seven like a knife. He had no idea how much his words were hurting Seven.  
  
"I am sorry," Seven said softly. "I will leave, I will not ruin B'Elanna's life," Seven said as ran out of B'Elanna's quarters.  
  
When Seven left Tom smirked, 'She really does put on a good show. I can see why B'Elanna found it so hard to set her straight. The way she acted, it was almost human. B'Elanna's going to thank me when she hears how I got rid of Seven for her.' Tom thought as he decided to wait for B'Elanna to come back.  
  
~***~  
  
"Neelix," B'Elanna said as she went into the mess hall. "I need something special for dinner."  
  
"Is Tom coming over?" Neelix asked hoping for a little gossip. "I didn't know you had an anniversary tonight."  
  
"We don't, it's for Seven," B'Elanna said as she looked through what Neelix had prepared. "Seven is always making these great dinners from scratch, and tonight I promised to get something." B'Elanna explained.  
  
"Then I have just the thing," Neelix said smiling. "Look at this. It's the replicator pattern for Italian Lasagna. It's a little high on the replicator rations, but it will defiantly be special."  
  
"Perfect," B'Elanna said as she input the replicator pattern and set it to be made in her quarters.  
  
"Have fun," Neelix said as B'Elanna left the mess hall. 'Well, it's about time those two became friends.' Neelix thought.  
  
B'Elanna entered her quarters with a smile on her face. 'Seven is going to love this' she thought.  
  
"Hello B'Elanna," Tom said with a smile on her face.  
  
"What are you doing here Tom?" B'Elanna asked still a little annoyed at him for their earlier argument.  
  
"I just came by to tell you that I solved your problem with Seven," Tom said smugly.  
  
"What are you talking about?" B'Elanna asked getting worried as a million possibilities ran through her head.  
  
"Seven was taking up all of your free time and made you feel guilty. I took care of it, she won't bother you anymore."  
  
"What did you do to her?" B'Elanna demanded angrily.  
  
"I didn't do anything," Tom said trying to defend himself. "All I said was that Seven shouldn't burden with you with her problems anymore, and then she left. I think it was the smartest thing she could have done."  
  
"Computer what is the location of Seven of Nine?" B'Elanna asked, now in a complete panic.  
  
"Seven of Nine is currently in Samantha Wildman's quarters," the computer responded.  
  
"When Seven and I get back you better no be here Tom," B'Elanna said angrily as she left.  
  
~***~  
  
Seven looked around the cargo bay sadly. After spending time with B'Elanna the cargo bay seemed so empty, and big. It would be difficult to adjust to being by herself again.  
  
"Wildman to Seven," chirped Seven's comm. interrupting her thoughts.  
  
"Seven here," she answered sadly.  
  
"What's the matter Seven?" Samantha asked, immediately picking up on the distress of the younger woman.  
  
"I have realized that I have been burdening B'Elanna for too long."  
  
"What do you mean? I thought that the two of you were getting along now?" Samantha asked confused.  
  
"We are. It is just that I realized that B'Elanna can not have a normal life with me in it. She has had to change her plans numerous times because of me."  
  
"If you're not staying with B'Elanna anymore where are you going to live?" Samantha asked not liking where the conversation was going.  
  
"I have returned to the cargo bay."  
  
"You are not staying in the cargo bay," Samantha said firmly. "It isn't safe. You are going to stay with me until we can figure something out."  
  
"I do not wish to bother you," Seven said.  
  
"You are not bothering me Seven, and this isn't up for debate. You are either going to come here on your own, or I am going to come and get you myself."  
  
"Very well," Seven relented. She remembered when Samantha used that tone of voice on Naiomi. The older woman would not change her mind about this. "I am on my way Samantha."  
  
"Good," Samantha said closing the link.  
  
~***~  
  
B'Elanna rushed to Samantha's quarters, knocking a good number of people over on her way there.  
  
She rang the entry chime and waited impatiently for Samantha to open the door.  
  
As soon as Samantha opened the door B'Elanna had already started interrogating her. "Is Seven okay? What did Tom say to her? Is the baby okay? Is she going to be okay?"  
  
"Slow down," Samantha said. "I'm not really sure what happened. All I know is that she was going to stay in the cargo bay, and I wasn't going to let it happen."  
  
"Can I talk to her? I have to know if she is okay." B'Elanna asked desperately.  
  
"She's asleep right now B'Elanna. I don't think we should wake her just yet. Come by tomorrow morning. It'll be easier to talk to her when she's calmed down a bit," Samantha suggested.  
  
"Okay," B'Elanna agreed reluctantly. "But I want you to call me if anything happens to her."  
  
"I promise," Samantha said as she ushered B'Elanna out the door.  
  
'My quarters are going to feel so empty without her.' B'Elanna thought as she sadly walked back home.  
  
To Be Continued... 


	7. Scheming

For the Love of a Child  
Part Six  
  
B'Elanna returned to her quarters sadly. She hadn't realized it before but she really did miss Seven. Even though Seven was only a few decks away, only a couple of minutes away in the turbo lift, it still upset her. She had gotten used to waking up with Seven, talking to her, and eating most of their meals together.  
  
With a heavy heart B'Elanna walked into her quarters. All she wanted to do was to go to bed and hope that things would look better in the morning.  
  
"What took you so long to get back?" Paris asked with a smile as he set the table. "The Lasagna is getting cold."  
  
"What the hell are you still doing here?" B'Elanna asked incredulously.  
  
"Come on B'Elanna, you're not still upset are you? Why don't we talk about it over dinner? I know the Lasagna used up a lot of replicator rations. It would be a shame for it to go to waste." Paris said as he took a bite.  
  
"Stop eating that!" B'Elanna said as she pulled the plate away from Tom. "That was supposed to be for Seven and me."  
  
"What's the big deal? It isn't like she's coming back. She knows that she can't trick you anymore with me around." Tom said pompously.  
  
"Get this through your thick head, SEVEN WAS NOT TRYING TO TRICK ME!" B'Elanna shouted. "She's my friend."  
  
"What is with you all of a sudden? Everything is about Seven now. It's all you can talk about. It's like I don't even know you anymore." Tom said as he also got angry.  
  
"You wouldn't understand," B'Elanna said with a sigh.  
  
"Try me," Tom said arrogantly.  
  
"For the first time in my life I'm in a situation that I can't talk or fight my way out of. I know what the right thing to do is, but I'm too afraid to do it and that isn't even the worst part." B'Elanna said feeling disgusted with herself.  
  
"It sounds like you got off easy. What are you complaining about?" Tom asked confused.  
  
"Seven is just letting me off the hook. She said that I could walk away from this, pretend it never happened, and forget that we have a child together." B'Elanna said as she lost most of the steam she had in the beginning.  
  
"I still don't get it. Seven let you off the hook you should be celebrating, not moping around now that she's gone."  
  
"I don't deserve to be let off the hook. If this was happening to me and not Seven I know that I couldn't handle it half as well or with near the same amount of dignity. I would have blamed her for it. I would have forced her to do all the things the she told me I didn't have to do."  
  
"Well it isn't happening to you, so you don't even have to think about it."  
  
"The way that Seven acts, the way that she is always trying to help others made me realize something. She's the one that always thinks about it. Even if something isn't her fault she will always try. She's better than us Tom, all of us."  
  
"Seven is part Borg. How the hell can she be better than us?" Tom asked.  
  
"It's because of things like that. When have you ever know Seven to judge someone because of the way they look, or where they come from? She treats us all as equals."  
  
"I've heard enough." Tom said with a look of disgust on his face. "You have to choose Seven or me."  
  
"Over the past few days I learned more about you than the entire time we were going out. If it was you and me having a baby, you would do everything you could to get out of it. I know now that I can't have any kind of relationship with you because of that. It's over Tom." B'Elanna said quietly. She thought that she would feel sad about ending things with Tom, but strangely enough she didn't feel anything.  
  
"Fine," Tom said gruffly. "I just hope you realize that there isn't any coming back from this," he said as he stormed out of B'Elanna's quarters.  
  
B'Elanna sat down with a sigh. She just hoped that Tom would leave things where they were.  
  
~***~  
  
Seven awoke that morning in an emergency cot. Samantha had brought it over when she decided that Seven was going to be staying with her for a while. The cot itself was comfortable enough, and Seven was able to sleep through most of the night, but something just didn't feel right to her. When she was sleeping in B'Elanna's bed it just felt right.  
  
"How did you sleep?" Samantha asked as she knelt down beside Seven.  
  
"I slept well." Seven said as she rubbed her eyes uncertainly.  
  
"What's the matter Seven?"  
  
"It feels different. It is not the same without B'Elanna here." Seven said, sitting up.  
  
"If you miss B'Elanna why don't you just talk to her?"  
  
"Lieutenant Paris informed me that I was ruining B'Elanna's life. I do not wish to do that, especially know that we are friends."  
  
"You don't have to listen to what he says. Paris is just acting like a petty child. He only said those things to drive you away from B'Elanna. None of it is true." Samantha said honestly.  
  
"Why would Lieutenant Paris tell me such things if they were not true?" Seven wondered out loud.  
  
"He lied to you Seven." Samantha explained. "He was probably feeling jealous of all the time that you spent with B'Elanna and wanted to get you out of the way."  
  
"Do all humans lie? The doctor has never spoken to me of this during my lessons about humanity."  
  
"I'll be honest with you Seven, just about everyone you know has lied at some point in their lives."  
  
"It seems more efficient to always tell the truth."  
  
"It is, but most people don't have the courage to confront their problems directly."  
  
"Thank you Samantha, your explanation was helpful." Seven said as she got out of bed.  
  
~***~  
  
B'Elanna woke up that morning with a sigh. Last night had been one of the worst nights that she could remember. Seven had moved out, and she had broken up with Tom. The surprising thing that morning was the fact that she couldn't care less that her relationship with Tom was over. What she cared about was that Seven was gone, and she had no idea where her relationship with the younger woman stood.  
  
'Maybe Seven's already up.' B'Elanna thought as she got out of bed. 'If I hurry maybe the two of us can get breakfast together.'  
  
B'Elanna quickly got dressed and made her way down to Samantha's quarters.  
  
Samantha opened the door to her quarters to see a nervous B'Elanna fiddling with her thumbs.  
  
"I hope that you took care of things with Paris before you came here." Samantha said in a stern voice.  
  
"I ended it with Tom last night. Everything that has been happening with Seven and me made me realize that Tom and I weren't right for each other." B'Elanna said smiling slightly.  
  
"You don't seem too disappointed about it." Samantha said with a knowing smirk on her face.  
  
"It's actually kind of relief that it's over. To tell you the truth I'm more nervous about talking to Seven than I was talking to Tom."  
  
"She's in the washroom. She should be out in a few minutes though. Why don't you sit down over there?" Samantha asked as she pointed to the couch in the living room.  
  
"Sure." B'Elanna said as she sat down. This was the first time that she had actually been in Samantha's quarters. B'Elanna had to admit to herself that it was not what she expected.  
  
She thought for sure that there would be children's toys all over the floor, Samantha running around the room frantically trying to get herself and Naiomi ready for the day, and a bunch of broken or damaged furniture.  
  
What B'Elanna saw was a very well maintained and tastefully decorated home.  
  
"B'Elanna, I did not expect to see you so soon." Seven said a she stepped out of the washroom.  
  
"I need to talk to you about what Tom said last night." B'Elanna said as she stood up. "None of what Tom said was true, he's just jealous about all the time I'm spending with you."  
  
"It was not all lies B'Elanna. I promised you that you would not have to be part of this. I told you that your life would not change. That promise has been broken." Seven finished quietly.  
  
"I admit that at first I didn't want my life to change. I was comfortable with where I was, but that changed. I was the one that broke your promise Seven. I like my life better with you in it." B'Elanna said sincerely.  
  
"I enjoy your company as well B'Elanna, but Lieutenant Paris does not wish for me to have a friendship with you. I do not wish to fight with him."  
  
"You don't have to worry about that anymore. Tom and I broke up last night after he had his talk with you."  
  
"May I ask why you ended your relationship?" Seven asked.  
  
"After what he said about you, and what he felt about pregnancy I realized that it would never work out between us." B'Elanna said with a smile.  
  
"You do not seem to be emotionally damaged over the subject." Seven observed.  
  
"That's because I'm glad that it's over. Towards the end of our relationship I began to wonder more and more about why we even started to go out."  
  
~***~  
  
Tom woke up the next morning to a very bad hangover. After his break up with B'Elanna he had gone right to Sardenes. He got back to his quarters around three in the morning, and hand to start his shift in about an hour.  
  
'I can't believe that B'Elanna dumped me for that Borg' Tom thought angrily. 'After everything we've been through I can't believe she could just end it like that.'  
  
'It was all Seven's fault. If she didn't get pregnant none of this would have happened and B'Elanna and I would have been fine. I just have to find a way to make B'Elanna realize what she's missing out on.'  
  
Tom had to stop his scheming when he heard his door chime. He opened the door to see the smiling face of Harry Kim.  
  
"Hey Tom, do you want to get some breakfast before our shift starts?" he asked.  
  
"Sure, let's go." Tom said as he put on his uniform jacket.  
  
"Let's get B'Elanna too." Harry said. "It's been ages since the last time the three of us had breakfast together."  
  
"I don't think that's a good idea Harry." Tom said trying to avoid the somewhat touchy subject.  
  
"You two didn't have another fight did you?" Harry asked.  
  
"No it was more like a breakup." Tom said realizing that Harry would find out eventually.  
  
"What happened? I thought you guys were getting along okay now." Harry asked a little shocked.  
  
"It was Seven." Tom said starting to feel angry again. "She has B'Elanna rapped around her little finger. B'Elanna broke up with me because of the way our relationship was affecting Seven." Tom said careful to leave out the fact that he made Seven cry and practically called her child an abomination.  
  
"So what are you going to do to get her back?" Harry asked. "I don't see you as the type to just let something like this go."  
  
"I'm not. All I have to do is get B'Elanna jealous. After that she'll come running back to me, and forget all about Seven." Tom said trying to pull off an evil smile.  
  
"After what Seven did, I think it's the only way to go." Harry said secretly hoping that with B'Elanna out of the way he'd have his chance with Seven.  
  
"The only problem is finding someone that would make B'Elanna jealous." Tom said.  
  
"What about Meagan Delaney?" Harry asked. "She's always had a thing for you. If you hadn't started going out with B'Elanna I'm sure the two of you would have been together."  
  
"That's perfect Harry," Tom said with a smile.  
  
~***~  
  
B'Elanna and Seven had spent most of their morning talking, which meant that B'Elanna didn't have enough time to have breakfast with Seven.  
  
Eventually Seven gave in to B'Elanna's reasoning to move back in, due to the fact that there was no real reason for her not to move back in with B'Elanna. Tom wasn't going to be a problem anymore and it really was the safest place for Seven and the baby.  
  
When B'Elanna left for her duty shift Seven, Naiomi, and Samantha decided to go to the mess hall for breakfast.  
  
When the three women sat down they were surprised to see the Captain walk over to them.  
  
"How are you feeling Seven?" Janeway asked carefully. She was trying very hard not to upset the younger woman.  
  
"I am well Captain. Thank you for asking." Seven said stiffly. She was still uncomfortable around the Captain, and it was obvious to everyone in the mess hall.  
  
"Seven I know that when the baby comes along you're going to need someone to help take care of her. If you want, I could be that person." Janeway said hopefully.  
  
"You have told me that I was not ready to have a child, and that you had no wish to have anything to do with her. What has changed?" Seven asked confused.  
  
"I came to my senses." Janeway said sincerely. "It was wrong of me to tell you to get rid of the child, and it should not matter that the child is not a Janeway. I want to be there for you Seven. I want to help you raise your daughter."  
  
"I do not know what to say Captain. I need time to think about this." Seven said reluctantly, still not wanting to start any kind of personal relationship with the Captain.  
  
"That's all I ask Seven." Janeway said as she walked away hopefully.  
  
"I didn't know that the Captain had a thing for you Seven," Samantha said as she took a bite of her eggs.  
  
"The Captain wishes to start a relationship with me." Seven said quietly.  
  
"How are you going to tell her you're not interested?" Naiomi asked.  
  
"You don't know that Seven isn't interested." Samantha admonished her daughter.  
  
"Naiomi is correct. The idea of starting a relationship with the Captain is, unappealing." Seven said choosing her words carefully.  
  
"What's wrong with the Captain?" Samantha asked curiously.  
  
"She is the person that severed me from the borg collective, and has played a large part in the formation of my personality. It would be similar to asking why you and Naiomi have not started a relationship."  
  
"I see your point," Samantha said cringing. "Just promise you that you will never say anything like that again."  
  
"I will promise if you do the same." Seven said with a smirk while Naiomi laughed in the background.  
  
"Deal," Samantha said as she began to see the humor in the situation as well.  
  
~***~  
  
Meagan was beaming as she walked into engineering. She had seen right through Tom's pathetic plan to make B'Elanna jealous. She had only agreed to help because she knew once Tom failed it would pave the way for her and B'Elanna.  
  
"B'Elanna," she said plastering a sincere expression on her face. "I just finished talking to Tom. He told me that you guys weren't going out anymore."  
  
"Yeah, how did you know about that?" B'Elanna asked curiously.  
  
"Well Tom told me about it this morning. He asked me to dinner tonight. Is it okay if I go out with him?" Meagan asked.  
  
"Tom and I broke up Meagan. You don't need my permission to go out with him," B'Elanna replied offhandedly.  
  
"It doesn't bother you that he wants to go out with me so soon after you guys broke up?" Megan asked unable to contain her shock.  
  
"I'm just glad that the whole thing's over." B'Elanna said as walked over to her office to begin her paperwork.  
  
'Perfect, now that I know B'Elanna won't be mad at me I can start making Tom look bad.' Meagan thought as she got to work.  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
Emory: Thanks, and it's hopefully going to be about 50 000 words when it's done.  
  
Romulanblood: Thanks, I hope you like the update  
  
GoddessAnjaanee: I may put stories on hold for a while but I will definetly finish all my stories. When I was writing this story I really wanted to develop they way I wrote the charcters, and keep the whole story as realistic as possible, so thanks for noticing.  
  
B'Elanna Torres: I was really hoping to get this chapter out sooner, but school and a really bad sore throat going around hit me pretty hard.  
  
The Libran Iniquity: Actually he can, I usually change the personalities of most of the characters that I write, plus I had to get Tom and B'Elanna broken up anyway.  
  
Celine Janeway: He's evil and will definatley get what's coming to him.  
  
Kat: It's fanfiction, and it's up to the writer to make up their personalities, besides I usually don't like the way the show wrote the characters.  
  
JadziaKathryn: I'm still not sure about Tom yet, there is a chance depending on what direction the story goes, and how the reviewers feel about this chapter.  
  
Hannah: Well, everyone can't like your writing all the time, but thanks for the review it was the nicest don't like your story review I've ever got. 


	8. You Should Be With Me

For the Love of a Child

Part Seven

Things had been going well for Seven over the past week. She did not have anymore encounters with Paris and was feeling more comfortable with spending time with B'Elanna. Her pregnancy was also progressing rapidly. The baby would be born within the next week. The only thing stopping the morning sickness that Seven should have been feeling was her nanoprobes.

"When are you going to see the doctor?" B'Elanna asked as she and Seven ate their breakfast.

"I will visit the doctor after breakfast." Seven answered. "He will also be able to take a picture of the baby." Seven said happily. "Will you accompany me?"

"Sure, I don't have to start my shift for another couple of hours anyway." B'Elanna said as she finished her breakfast.

The pair walked down to sick bay, B'Elanna talking about what she had to do during her shift, and Seven listening intently. This was due mostly to the fact that Seven could not return to duty until after the pregnancy.

"Right on time," the doctor said as Seven walked into sickbay. "You know, I think you and Naiomi are the only ones that actually show up for their appointments."

"When I was informed that I would be able to see a picture of the baby I made it a priority." Seven said with a small smile.

"Wonderful." The doctor said. "Why don't you lie down on the bio-bed while I make a scan of the baby?" The doctor asked as he helped Seven to lie down.

"She's perfectly healthy." The Doctor said with a smile as he used the medical scanner to take a picture.

When the image was created the doctor handed one copy to Seven, and the other he kept for the baby's medical files.

B'Elanna peered over Seven's shoulder to look at the baby as well and let out a small gasp. "What's that on her forehead?" she asked.

"Those would be her cranial ridges." The Doctor said.

"But she's only one fourth Klingon. I thought that she wouldn't have any." B'Elanna said.

"Actually your Klingon DNA will always be a dominant feature in any offspring you have. It will be at least eighth generation before it disappears completely." The doctor explained.

"Is there anyway to remove the Klingon DNA?" B'Elanna asked.

"Why would you wish to do that?" Seven asked curiously. "It would change who the baby is?"

"I know what it's like to grow up like that." B'Elanna said with a sigh. "When I was little I never quite fitted in with the Klingon's or the humans. They made fun of me a lot. I just don't want the baby to go through that as well." She explained.

"That will not happen." Seven said adamantly.

"You can't stop it from happening. Children will always make fun of things that are different from them." B'Elanna said as she remembered some of the cruel names she was called growing up.

"It is different on Voyager, no one will 'make fun' of the baby." Seven said.

"I hope you're right Seven." B'Elanna said, still not completely believing Seven.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" B'Elanna asked. "I was hoping that we could go and get some lunch."

"I would like that." Seven said as the pair made their way to the mess hall.

_"Here she comes." _Harry thought as he watched Seven walk into the room. "Hey guys, do you want to join me for lunch?" Harry asked as he motioned to his table.

"Sure Harry." B'Elanna said as she led Seven to the table. "Have a seat Seven. I'll go replicate us something." B'Elanna said as she walked to the replicator, leaving Seven alone with Harry for a while.

"So Seven how are you feeling?" Harry asked, trying to get Seven's attention.

"I am well." Seven said as she watched B'Elanna replicate their lunch.

"Do you need any help with the baby?" He asked. "You shouldn't have to do it all by yourself."

"I am not doing it by myself." Seven said. "B'Elanna helps me when ever it is possible."

"Are you doing anything tonight?" Harry asked, remembering that Seven liked it more when people were direct with her.

"I have not made any specific plans." Seven said, not catching on to where Harry was going.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" Harry asked hopefully.

"I do not wish to start any kind of personal relationship at this time." Seven said choosing her words carefully. "My main concern is with my child now, everything else is secondary."

"Here you go Seven." B'Elanna said interrupting what Harry was going to say as she put down Seven's tray beside her.

"Thank you B'Elanna." Seven said with a slight smile.

After B'Elanna sat down beside Seven Tom walked into the mess hall with Meagan on his arm.

Tom then walked past B'Elanna hoping that she would notice him with Meagan. After a few minutes B'Elanna still hadn't noticed him so he decided to be a little more direct about it.

Tom purposely bumped into the back of B'Elanna's chair, and when she turned around he pretended to be surprised.

"Oh, B'Elanna I didn't see you there. Well this is kind of awkward isn't it?" He asked as he held onto Meagan's arm.

"What's kind of awkward?" B'Elanna asked, remembering that Meagan had already told her about Tom.

"Well, me getting together with Meagan." Tom said barley able to cover his shock.

"It doesn't bother me Tom. Things just weren't working out between us. I'm glad that you found someone that makes you happy." B'Elanna said eyeing the two of them oddly.

"Well we don't want to keep you from your date." Harry said, trying to get Tom and Meagan to leave.

Harry had accepted the fact that for now he had to deal with B'Elanna being around all the time but if Tom and Meagan sat down as well it would make things a lot harder.

"Yeah, we should get going." Tom said getting the hint.

"I'll see you later." Meagan said as she patted B'Elanna on the back.

"I had always believed that Meagan Delaney was interested in you B'Elanna." Seven said as she took a bite of her lunch.

"What makes you think that Seven?" B'Elanna asked.

"Her pupils dilate and her heart beat increase anytime that she's around you." Seven explained.

"You were able to pick that up just by sitting next to her for a few minutes?" B'Elanna asked impressed.

"It was part of the doctor's lessons on humanity." Seven explained.

"Seven I promise that I won't put any pressure on you." Harry said still not wishing to give up.

"What are you talking about?" B'Elanna asked curiously. "What pressure?"

"Harry Kim has invited me to dinner tonight." Seven stated.

"We can figure out where we stand after the baby is born." Harry coaxed Seven." Think of it as expanding your humanity." He offered.

"I am unsure." Seven said reluctantly. "I do not wish to damage our friendship."

"It's only one date Seven. If things don't work out I promise we'll still be friends."

B'Elanna didn't know why, but at the time she was angry. Harry was asking Seven out right in front of her and it bothered her. The more logical part of her mind pointed out the fact that she had no claim on Seven's personal life and that this was none of her business.

"Then I will accept." Seven decided.

"Great," Harry said enthusiastically. "How about in my quarters at 1900 hours?"

"That will be acceptable." Seven said a little nervously. She hoped that this would go better than her first date.

For the rest of lunch B'Elanna didn't say much of anything and quickly excused herself after she was finished.

"Well I better get back to work as well." Harry said a few moments after B'Elanna had left. "See you tonight." He said as he left the mess hall as well.

After Seven finished her lunch she also left the mess hall and headed for B'Elanna's quarters. She was taking naps even more frequently than before. The baby was going to be born within a week and was taking up most of her spare energy.

B'Elanna was fuming as she began her shift. _'How dare Harry just ask out Seven and right in front of me as well?'_

The rest of the staff had been working with B'Elanna long enough to know when she was in one of her moods. For most of the shift they tried to stay out of B'Elanna's way, all except one person.

"Hey B'Elanna what's bothering you?" Meagan asked as she walked over.

"What makes you think anything is bothering me?" B'Elanna snapped.

"Well, how about the fact that you've been yelling and snapping at everyone that's tried to talk to you for the entire shift?" Meagan asked in amusement.

"It's just something that Harry did earlier today." B'Elanna said with a sigh.

"What did he do? It couldn't have been that bad." Meagan coaxed.

"He asked Seven out, and right in front of me too." B'Elanna said in irritation.

"So? It isn't like you're going out with her. She's just living with you for a while." Meagan said feeling a little confused.

"I know it's just that I don't like the idea of Seven going out. I'd feel a lot better if she would just stay home."

"Well if she's going out why don't you do the same?" Meagan questioned. "We can go grab a drink, just us girls. Our shift is done in a couple of minutes anyway." She suggested.

"Thanks Meagan, but I think that I'll just go talk to Seven. If I can't talk her out of going, I'm at least going to make sure she doesn't stay out too late." B'Elanna said as she left engineering.

_'I was so close.' _Meagan thought to herself. _'If I could just get B'Elanna to stop thinking about Seven I know that she'd go out with me.'_

When B'Elanna walked into her quarters she expected to find Seven getting herself ready, but it didn't seem like anyone was even there. With a sigh B'Elanna walked over to the couch and was about to sit down when she noticed that Seven was fast asleep on it.

B'Elanna deciding not to wake Seven up, carefully lifted Seven's head up and sat down before moving Seven's head into her lap.

_'I wish we could always get a long this well.' _B'Elanna thought to herself as she started to run her fingers through Seven's hair lightly with one hand and looked over a report with the other.

After almost half an hour of this Seven finally began to stir. With her eyes still closed she wondered what that pleasant feeling was on her head. She cracked open an eye to see B'Elanna slowly running her fingers through her hair.

"How long have you been doing that?" Seven asked as she started to lift herself up curiously.

"Probably about a half hour," B'Elanna said without looking up from her pad and using her hand in Seven's hair to gently lower Seven's head back into her lap.

Seven let B'Elanna push her head back down as turned so she was laying on her back and looking up at B'Elanna. "Why did you not speak during lunch?" Seven said, asking the question that had been bothering her.

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked playing dumb. "We talked."

"No." Seven disagreed. "When you returned with my lunch you barely spoke. Did I do something to upset you?"

"You didn't do anything wrong." B'Elanna said with a sigh. "It just bothered me when Harry asked you out." B'Elanna confessed.

"Why does it bother you?" Seven asked in genuine confusion.

"I don't know why. It just does. I like it a lot more when you're at home." B'Elanna said almost childishly.

"If this bothers you I will not go." Seven offered.

"Do you really mean it?" B'Elanna asked enthusiastically. She knew that if Seven offered to do it she would.

"Yes." Seven said simply as she closed her eyes again and turned her head to the side.

"Well you better do it now. You said you would meet Harry for dinner in an hour and a half." B'Elanna said completely forgetting about the data pad she was reading.

"May I use your comm. badge?" Seven asked. "I removed mine when I took a nap." She explained.

"Sure Seven." B'Elanna said as she tapped her comm. badge.

"Seven of nine to Harry Kim."

"Kim here," Harry answered.

"Harry I regret to inform you that I will not be able to attend dinner with you."

"Well what about tomorrow night?" Harry asked.

"I will not be able to attend dinner any night." Seven stated bluntly.

"Can I ask why? You seemed interested at lunch." Harry asked.

"B'Elanna wants me to stay at home." Seven answered.

"Oh, well if you change your mind my offer is still open." Harry said as he closed the link.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" B'Elanna asked as she began to stroke Seven's hair again.

_'I can't believe her.' _Harry thought to himself as he walked into the mess hall. _'This was my big chance to go out with Seven, and B'Elanna just had to ruin it.'_

"What's the matter with you?" Tom asked as Harry sat down across from him.

"B'Elanna just cancelled my date with Seven." Harry said still fuming.

"What are you talking about? How can B'Elanna do that?" Tom asked.

"You know you were wrong about Seven Tom. B'Elanna's the one that has Seven wrapped around her little finger. Any time that B'Elanna wants Seven to do something she does it, no questions asked."

"That's why they shouldn't be together." Tom said. "All they're doing is using each other. They need us to have a real relationship." Tom said pompously.

"I think you're right but how are we going to get those two to realize that?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. My plan to make B'Elanna jealous didn't seem to work at all. She was too busy talking to Seven to even notice." Tom said in annoyance.

"Maybe you should tell Meagan that it's over then. B'Elanna probably isn't doing anything because she knows that the two of you are together now."

"You're probably right. The next time I see Megan I'll tell her it's over." Tom said.

Just as Tom finished speaking he noticed B'Elanna walk into the mess hall and talk to Neelix.

"Hey look its B'Elanna." Tom said pointing. "I thought you said that she would be with Seven."

Harry didn't have time to respond because he was already on his feet and making his way towards B'Elanna.

"Why did you mess up my date with Seven?" Harry asked in annoyance.

"I don't really want to talk about it." B'Elanna said as she turned to Neelix again.

"Well I do." Harry said. "This was my big chance with Seven and you ruined it. I want to know why."

"I don't want Seven going out with anyone." B'Elanna said getting angry. "She belongs at home with me."

"Well it isn't up to you. Seven should be making her own decisions." Harry declared.

"Neelix, Seven wanted some fresh fruit." B'Elanna said ignoring Harry. "What do you have?"

"Well you could give her this." Neelix suggested as he put a bowl filled with strawberries, cherries, bananas, and mangos on the table.

"Thanks Neelix." B'Elanna said as she took the bowl and left the mess hall.

"What was all that about?" Tom asked.

"B'Elanna thinks she can make Seven do anything she wants." Harry said fuming.

"We need to separate those too before they start turning on each other." Tom agreed.

To be continued…


	9. Baby Names

For The Love of a Child

Part Eight

"Hey Seven I found the fruit that you wanted." B'Elanna said as she walked into her quarters.

"I am over here B'Elanna." Seven said as she sat up from her lying position on the couch and put the data pad she was reading on the coffee table.

"What are you reading?" B'Elanna asked curiously as she put the bowl of fruit down on the table.

"It is all the data that I have collected about the baby." Seven said as B'Elanna took her seat on the couch and Seven rested her head in B'Elanna's lap again.

"Data you collected? I thought that the doctor was the one that was doing all the tests." B'Elanna asked as she began to stroke Seven's hair again.

"My nanoprobes are also monitoring the baby." Seven explained. "They provide more detailed information about the baby's health."

"Can I take a look?" B'Elanna asked as she took the data pad off the coffee table. After hearing no objection from Seven B'Elanna began to look through the file.

"May I have some of the fruit?" Seven asked as she looked at the bowl on the coffee table.

"Sure Seven." B'Elanna said as she continued to read through the data pad. B'Elanna absentmindedly reached into the bowl and pulled out a couple of the strawberries and held them at Seven's lips.

Seven felt a little strange about B'Elanna feeding her but remembered all the effort she had put into sitting up when B'Elanna entered the room. Seven opened her mouth as B'Elanna put the strawberry inside and closed her lips around it. As the strawberry entered Seven's mouth she closed her around the tips of B'Elanna's fingers.

"Did you like the strawberry?" B'Elanna asked as she removed her fingers with a little reluctance.

"It was… Yes, I… The strawberry was enjoyable." Seven said a little flustered by the surprising intimacy of the action.

"Here, try another one." B'Elanna said with a small smile as she fed Seven another strawberry.

"Thank you." Seven said as she finished her second strawberry.

B'Elanna and Seven spent an hour looking over the data pad and eating the bowl of fruit. When B'Elanna had finally finished the pad she looked down to find that Seven was already asleep.

Tom had spent most of the morning trying to figure out how to end things with Meagan. _'We've only been going out for a little while, but I know this is going to break her heart.' _He thought arrogantly.

In the end Tom just decided to break it to her when they were having breakfast. "Megan I need to talk to you about something." Tom said as he saw her enter the mess hall.

"Sure, what's up Tom?" Meagan asked curiously. _'I don't know how B'Elanna ever put up with him for so long.' _Meagan thought to herself as she sat down. __

"It's about our relationship." Tom said with a sigh, for effect. "I just don't think it's working out. It isn't you Meagan, it's me." Tom added.

_'Oh no,' _Meagan thought in a panic. _'This wasn't supposed to be how it worked. I was supposed to dump Tom after I realized he could never be the kind of person that I could love. Then I was going to spend time with B'Elanna to get over it.' _Meagan said feeling her plans begin to slip through her fingers.

Tom looked at Meagan as he broke the news to her. _'Poor girl,' _Tom thought to himself. _'She's taking this harder than I thought. Maybe I should have been gentler.'_

After seeing the look of pity on Tom's face Megan stood up and stormed out of the mess hall. _'I can't believe that fool could ruin all my plans.' _Meagan thought, fuming.

"Wow, Meagan didn't look like she took that well." Harry said as he sat down next to Tom.

"I think I broke her heart." Tom said conceitedly. "It had to be done though. B'Elanna won't get back together with me if I'm seeing someone else. It's a lot easier to end it with Meagan now than later, when she's really attached."

"I guess you're right. How do you want to start getting together with them?" Harry asked.

"Well first we need to figure out why B'Elanna doesn't want Seven to go out with anyone." Tom said thoughtfully.

"It did seem kind of strange to me as well. I thought for sure that B'Elanna would jump at a chance to get some time away from Seven."

"Well there's a simple enough way to find out. All you have to do is ask her. Then she'll get mad and start shouting, eventually she'll just let it slip." Tom said knowingly.

"Are you sure that's going to work?" Harry asked.

"It always worked before." Tom said with a smirk.

"I guess I'll give it a shot during alpha shift." Harry said as he went to begin his shift in engineering.

B'Elanna opened her eyes with a smile. She probably wouldn't admit it to anyone but she enjoyed waking up with Seven every morning. _'I wonder what we're going to do after the baby is born.' _B'Elanna thought to herself with a sigh. _'I really don't want Seven to go.'_

B'Elanna's musings ended when Seven opened her eyes and looked up. "Good morning B'Elanna." Seven said with a smile.

"Morning, Seven." B'Elanna responded. "What do you have planned for today?"

"I have not made any specific plans yet. I was going to spend the rest of the day trying to find a name for the baby." Seven said as B'Elanna helped her to sit up.

"Do you need some help? We could probably talk about it over lunch." B'Elanna said hopefully.

"I would like that. I have been having trouble deciding on a name by myself." Seven admitted.

"Great." B'Elanna said with a smile. "Just come by engineering around 1300 hours."

Seven nodded as she got out of bed and went to the washroom.

_'Well I guess that means that I'm going to be making breakfast again.' _B'Elanna thought to herself as she got out of bed and remembered what happened the last time. _'I think it would be easier if I just replicated something this time.'_

When Seven walked out of the bathroom she noticed that B'Elanna had already set the table.

"Hey Seven, I decided to replicate breakfast this time instead of making it." B'Elanna said as she set down the plate of bacon and eggs.

B'Elanna and Seven spent most of the morning talking about a few names they had been thinking of.

"Well I should probably get going." B'Elanna said as she put away the plates. "I'll see you at lunch." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven's cheek and walked out the door.

B'Elanna walked to engineering with a smile on his face. She seemed to always be in a better mood when she spent time with Seven.

"Just the person I wanted to talk to." Harry said as B'Elanna walked into engineering.

"What is it now?" B'Elanna asked as she rolled her eyes and felt her good mood start to evaporate.

"I don't like what you've been doing to Seven." Harry said feeling a little of his anger come back to the surface.

"I haven't been doing anything to Seven." B'Elanna denied. "She belongs at home, not running around all over the ship especially with the coming."

"That's bullshit. You have her wrapped around your little finger. All you have to do is ask and she'll do whatever you want." Harry denied venomously.

"You better watch what you say Harry." B'Elanna said as her eyes narrowed.

"What did you have to do?" Harry asked ignoring B'Elanna's threat. "How did you take over Seven's life?"

"Keep Seven out of this." B'Elanna ordered. "She has nothing to do with this."

"It was the baby wasn't it." Harry said grasping at straws. "She'll do anything you want as long as you don't take away her child."

B'Elanna saw red as soon as Harry finished speaking. Harry for his part gulped visibly as he paled and took a few steps back.

"If you ever so much as think about uttering those words again I will rip off your arm and beat you to death with it." B'Elanna said quietly betraying her anger.

"B'Elanna, I…" Harry started to say in a panic. "I didn't mean to… I mean." Harry stuttered as he took another couple of steps back, unable to meat B'Elanna's angry glare.

"The only reason that you're still standing here is because I don't want to leave Seven alone when I end up in the brig." B'Elanna said angrily. "You can think about that while you're removed from duty for the rest of the week."

"You can't do that." Harry said finding a little backbone.

"I'm you're commanding officer and I just did. And just to make sure you actually spend some time thinking about your holodeck privileges are also revoked for the next month." B'Elanna added maliciously.

"I know I said some things that were a little out of line but this is going too far. I'm going to have to go to the captain about this." Harry threatened desperately.

"Go ahead." B'Elanna said with a snort. "And while you're at it why don't you repeat everything you just said to her. I'm sure she'd be interested to know what you consider appropriate topics of conversation during duty shifts."

Harry knew he was stuck as he looked at everyone in engineering. With everyone staring at him some with angry glares he knew he would never be able to defend his actions to the captain.

"I just relived you of Duty Kim." B'Elanna said, glaring at him again. "That means I want you to get the hell out of my department!"

Harry quickly left engineering, afraid that B'Elanna would take away his replicator rations as well.

Meagan watched Harry almost run out of engineering from her station. _'Of course,' _she thought to herself. _'Harry and Tom are working together to get Seven and B'Elanna. I'm going to need some help if I'm going to get B'Elanna. I just need someone to occupy Seven so that I can spend some time alone with B'Elanna. It would be impossible to do it all by myself.' _Meagan thought to herself with a smirk.

"Everyone get back to work." B'Elanna said as she stormed up to her office and sat down.

The engineering crew quickly got back to work. They weren't sure if B'Elanna's bad mood would spill over to them so they decided to play it safe for a while and spent the next couple of hours working on their various projects.

"It looks like B'Elanna is going to be in her office for a while." Carey said as he walked up to Meagan.

"Maybe I should go talk to her." Megan thought out loud. "I can probably get her to calm down."

"What? Are you kidding? B'Elanna's probably going to bite the head off the next person that goes up there." Carey said incredulously. "Just go about your work. We just have to wait for her to calm down."

"I guess I could wait a while." Meagan said a little reluctantly.

"I knew Janeway had a thing for Seven, but I never knew about Harry." Carey said changing the subject.

"The Captain likes Seven?" Meagan asked not believing her luck.

"Yeah, why do you think she had such a fit when she found out Seven was pregnant? She wanted to be the one to give Seven a baby." Carey said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I never knew." Meagan said as a smile began to form on her face._ 'This is perfect. The captain can have Seven and I can have B'Elanna.' _Meagan thought to herself with a smile.

"I need to go see the Captain about something." Meagan said as she walked out of engineering.

_'I hope she isn't planning what I think she is.' _Carey thought to himself as he watched Meagan leave. _'B'Elanna is probably the last person anyone should try to manipulate.'_

Carey thought as he got back to the project that he was working on.

After another hour Carey was almost finished his work when he looked up to see Seven walk in.

"Hi Seven," he greeted. "Now is probably not the best time to talk to B'Elanna he warned, she's in one of her moods." Carey warned.

"I do not understand. B'Elanna seemed happy when she left." Seven said confused.

"You should probably ask her." Carey suggested wisely. The last thing he wanted to do was get in the middle of this strange love triangle that was developing.

"I believe I will." Seven said as she walked to B'Elanna's office.

"Wait," Carey said as he quickly moved in front of Seven. "Are you sure you want to talk to her now? I think she's still in her mood."

"We are supposed to have lunch together." Seven explained. "I am sure that I will be fine." Seven said as she moved past Carey and knocked on the door.

"What do you want?" B'Elanna shouted through the door.

"B'Elanna?" Seven asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Seven?" B'Elanna asked unable to hide her surprise.

"Yes." Seven answered simply.

"Just give me a second." B'Elanna said as she ran around her office trying to make it a little more presentable.

When B'Elanna finally opened the door she met a smirking Seven. "Do you still have time for lunch?"

"Sure I just need to finish a little work." B'Elanna said as she pulled Seven into the office and closed the door.

"I was informed that you were in one of your moods." Seven said as B'Elanna was closing the door.

"It's nothing." B'Elanna said dismissively. "Have a seat. I'll be done in a couple of minutes." B'Elanna said as she led Seven around her desk and gently pushed Seven down into the chair.

"Thank you." Seven said as leaned back in the chair and pulled her feet up.

For the next few minutes Seven looked around B'Elanna's office. It was just like her quarters before Seven moved in. Nothing was in its proper place. The best way to describe it was a giant mess.

"Alright let's go." B'Elanna said as she helped Seven to her feet and they left engineering.

"Have you thought of any names for the baby?" Seven asked. "I have not yet found one that is quite right."

"I've got a couple of ideas." B'Elanna said as they walked into the mess hall.

Seven sat down at one of the tables facing the view port as B'Elanna went to get their lunch.

Seven let out a sigh of relief as she looked around the mess hall. For once the captain was not around to apologize or ask Seven to move in with her. In the beginning it was nice to see that the Captain cared about her again, but now it bordered on annoying.

"Here you go Seven." B'Elanna said interrupting Seven's thoughts. "I thought you might like to try spaghetti and meatballs." She said as she set the plate down in front of Seven.

"It is good." Seven said as she tasted one of the meatballs.

"So what kind of names did you have in mind?" B'Elanna asked as began to eat as well.

"Naiomi Wildman has informed me that I should choose a name that has a personal significance to me." Seven said. "What do you think of the name Hope?" Seven asked.

"It's not bad." B'Elanna said, but it doesn't seem quite right. "How about Marlene? It's Spanish. I was hoping that we could name the baby after some of our ancestors."

"Something still seems to be missing." Seven said thoughtfully. "But I like your idea of naming the baby after our ancestors. How do you feel about the name Kaia?" Seven asked.

"I like it, but what's the ancestry of that name?" B'Elanna asked.

"It is Klingon. I wish to name the baby after Kayless." Seven said.

"Are you sure Seven? I got teased a lot about my mixed heritage." B'Elanna said a little unsure.

"That is exactly why we should name the baby Kaia. I do not want the baby to forget who she is, how she came to be." Seven said as she decided on the name.

"Kaia it is." B'Elanna said with a smile. "She is going to be so special, and loved."

"I agree." Seven said with a smile of her own. "And perhaps now you can tell me why you were in 'a mood'" Seven asked.

"It was just an argument with Harry." B'Elanna said as the smile left her face.

"Was it because I cancelled our date?" Seven asked. "It did not seem to bother him last night."

"When I walked into engineering he accused me of taking control of your life." B'Elanna said, still a little upset over it.

"That must not have gone over well." Seven stated.

"Let's just say I made a few threats and punished him accordingly." B'Elanna said with a smirk.

"What did you do?" Seven asked. Her interest peeked.

"Well I took him off duty for the week, and that would have been the end of it if he hadn't kept arguing. By the end of it I took away his holodeck privileges for a month as well."

"Harry must have upset you considerably." Seven observed.

"He did, actually I think I was too lenient on him. Maybe I should take away his replicator rations as well. What do you think Seven?" B'Elanna asked.

"I think that with all of the time Harry likes to spend on the holodeck this will be punishment enough." Seven said highly amused by the whole situation.

"Captain Can I speak to you privately?" Meagan asked as she walked onto the bridge.

"Certainly ensign, We can use the ready room." Kathryn said as the two women walked inside and the door closed.

To Be Continued…


	10. A New Life

Beck: It sometimes takes a while, but I promise that I will always finish my fics.

Anime-frak-4life: Let's just say that you're going to love this chapter.

Kelani2539: It is a little hard keeping a cohesive story going with so many crushed but it'll work itself out in the end. (probably)

GoddessAnjanee: Well here you go, I just work A LOT during the summer, I'm sctually kind of surprised I had the time to get this new chapter out.

SHAWN PROVANCHA: cool, thanks.

Frozen to Death: I know she seemed kind of submissive in the beginning but it was necessary to develop her character.

Samantha Quinn: Well it's been a while since I got a flame. I guess you didn't get the message about me only tolerating constructive criticism. And about the changing personalitles thing, yes you can and it is not lazy writing. It's called creative thinking. If everyone stuck to cannon personalities all the stories would be done.

Crashcart9: It may be slow but I really want to develop the relationships first, you're probably going to like the next part though.

Fire Demon: I aim to please.

Celine Janeway: I'm trying to put a little humor into it. I had no idea it was so hard to have continued angst in a relatively long story, especially if the writer isn't even sure about how it's going to end. Hopefully this part won't seem too outrageous.

For The Love of a Child

Part Nine

"What did you want to talk about ensign?" Janeway asked as she sat down in one of the chairs.

"Captain I know how you feel about Seven," Meagan said. "So I think that you should know that Harry is trying to start a relationship with her."

"What are you talking about?" Janeway asked in amusement. "Seven doesn't even like Harry like that."

"Seven agreed to go on a date with him last night." Meagan informed her.

"Seven went on a date with Harry?" Janeway asked.

"Well not exactly." Meagan said, faltering a little. "She was going to go, but at the last minute B'Elanna asked her to cancel."

"Well that's good to know, but why are you telling me all of this?" Janeway asked curiously.

"I overheard Tom and Harry talking. They're working together to get together with Seven and B'Elanna. If we don't do something soon their plan might actually end up working." Meagan said with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Well, I know what's in it for me but what about you?"

"I've wanted to have a relationship with B'Elanna for a long time. Now that she ended things with Tom I finally have a chance." Meagan explained.

"I don't think that this is a good idea." Janeway said as she thought about it for a moment.

"Why?" Megan asked in confusion. "Together we could stop them from getting their hands on the women we want."

"I don't want to start a relationship with Seven like that. Neither one of them deserves to be manipulated like that." Janeway said with a sigh. She had already learned from first hand experience that trying to push Seven into doing something she didn't want to do always ended badly.

"It would only be in the beginning, neither of them has to know what we're planning." Megan pleaded.

"How can you build a relationship that's based on a lie?" Janeway asked wisely. "I'm not going to tell Seven and B'Elanna what you're trying to do because the personal lives of the crew is none of my business but you should stop before you hurt both of them."

"Thank you for your advice Captain." Meagan said stiffly as she walked out of the ready room.

_'Well that turned out to be a bust.' _Meagan thought to herself as she left. _'I guess I'm just going to have to go it alone.'_

"Well, how did it go?" Tom asked excitedly. "Did B'Elanna tell you why she doesn't want Seven dating?"

"No," Harry said with a sigh as he remembered his conversation with B'Elanna. "She removed me from duty for the week and took away all my holodeck rations."

"That's abuse of her power." Tom said with a smile. "You could go to the Captain with that."

"No I can't." Harry disagreed. "I asked B'Elanna if she was using the baby as a way of controlling Seven."

Tom cringed as he heard Harry's words. "I think that you might have taken getting her angry a little too far, besides B'Elanna would never do that."

"I know, I guess I was just more upset than I thought when B'Elanna made Seven cancel our date."

"Well, I guess we won't be able to figure out why B'Elanna doesn't want Seven to date. We should accept it and keep moving forward." Tom said after a moments thought. "Beating around the bush doesn't seem to be working either. Maybe we should try a more direct approach."

"What did you have in mind?" Harry asked.

"We can set up a romantic double date. When they get there I'll just tell B'Elanna that I want her back, and you can tell Seven that the two of you belong together."

"Are you sure this is going to work? None of your other ideas seemed to work out really well." Harry said remembering all of the helmsmen's failed plans.

"We've tried everything else." Tom said with a sigh. "We need to try something completely different or they're just going to slip through our fingers."

"I just felt the baby move." Seven said with a happy gasp.

"Let me feel." B'Elanna said as she pressed her hand to Seven's stomach. "I can't believe that she's growing so fast." B'Elanna said with a smile. "She's going to be here in just a few days, we're going to have to get the quarters ready for her."

"Are you asking me to remain at your quarters?" Seven asked hopefully.

"They're our quarters now." B'Elanna said with a smile. "I already filled out the paper work." B'Elanna said as she looked up at Seven.

"Thank you." Seven said with a smile as she kissed B'Elanna's cheek, causing B'Elanna to blush lightly.

"I want to be here for everything, and you can't do this alone." B'Elanna said as she sat back down in her chair.

"How would you like to prepare our quarters for Kaia?" Seven asked as she took a bite of her lunch.

"Well first we're going to have to get a crib, some baby clothes, some toys, a few books to read to her, and everything we're going to need to change her diapers." B'Elanna said ticking them off on her fingers. "Replicator rations are going to be a little tight for the next few months but I think that we can manage."

"Why will replicator rations be a problem?" Seven asked curiously.

"It's going to take a lot of rations to replicate all of that. We're probably going to have to get an advance to get everything in time." B'Elanna explained.

"No, I have more than enough replicator rations saved for that." Seven disagreed.

"It's at least 700 replicator rations for everything. How did you manage to save all of that?" B'Elanna questioned.

"I have never had a reason to spend an excessive amount of my rations. I have only used them for my nutritional supplements and I usually trade me holodeck time for more rations." Seven explained.

"So how many rations do you have saved up?" B'Elanna asked curiously.

"At this moment I have 1132 replicator rations in my possession."

"Wow," B'Elanna said in shock. "The most that I've been able to save was 250. You must really be able to save your rations drinking those nutritional supplements."

"Hey you two," Meagan said interrupting what Seven was about to say. "May I join you?" she asked politely.

"Um, sure Meagan," B'Elanna said. "What's up?" She asked as she made room for Meagan.

"Well, I just haven't had a chance to talk to you in a while." Meagan said as she took her seat. "What have you been up to lately?"

"Seven's going to be moving in with me permanently." B'Elanna announced with a smile. "We were just talking about what we're going to need for when Kaia is born."

"You are?" Meagan said unable to contain her shock. "With a baby around you won't have much free time." She said grasping at straws. "You probably won't have much of a personal life after this."

"That's okay." B'Elanna said mildly irritated at Meagan. "I don't think I really want to start dating again yet."

"I thought your break up with Tom didn't bother you." Meagan said confused.

"It doesn't, I just think that it's time I take step back and figure out what's really important." B'Elanna explained.

"Well let me know when you're finished figuring it out." Meagan said with a wink as left the mess hall.

"Alright, so you were right about how Meagan felt about me." B'Elanna said, finally agreeing with Seven.

"We should begin preparing our quarters for Kaia." Seven said causing B'Elanna to smile.

"Yeah, let's go." B'Elanna said as she took Seven's hand and they left the mess hall.

"Alright Seven's with B'Elanna in her quarters. Let's just go in there and do this." Harry said as they stood outside the door.

"Just remember we're trying to be direct this time." Tom said as he rang the chime.

"Come in." B'Elanna shouted from behind the door.

"What's going on in here?" Tom asked as he looked around at all the tools and various pieces of wood lying on the floor.

"We are preparing for when Kaia is born." Seven said, sitting in a pile of parts that were presumably part of a crib and looking over an instruction manual.

"Seven, I just don't understand why we can't replicate everything instead of putting it together ourselves." B'Elanna said in frustration as she threw down her manual.

"We must save our rations B'Elanna. Preparing this way will save us 25% of our rations. We do not know how much we will need for Kaia as she grows up." Seven explained.

"I guess you're right." B'Elanna admitted grudgingly.

"What are you two doing here?" B'Elanna asked, addressing Harry and Tom. She was still a little upset at Harry for saying what he did, and Tom for hurting Seven's feelings earlier.

"Well we were wondering if you two would care to join us for dinner." Tom asked.

"I thought you said you were going out with Meagan." B'Elanna asked.

"I was, but it just wasn't the same without you. Please come to dinner with us and at least talk about it." Tom said smoothly.

"There really isn't anything to talk about Tom." B'Elanna said as she helped Seven to her feet. "We're just too different to make things work."

"If you come to dinner with us tonight and let me explain I promise that I won't bother you again." Tom offered.

"Fine," B'Elanna agreed with a sigh. "Seven do you want to get some dinner?" she asked.

"Are you sure that this is something that you would not like to do in private?" Seven asked.

"What's the point?" B'Elanna asked. "Tom would tell Harry, and I would tell you as soon as we got back anyway."

"If you are sure," Seven said, still a little uncertain.

"I'm sure," B'Elanna said as kissed Seven's forehead, making her blush slightly.

"Great." Tom said, ignoring the kiss.

"Let's go to the mess hall. We have everything set up." Harry said enthusiastically as they all left B'Elanna's quarters.

"This better not take too long." B'Elanna said as she and Seven followed Harry and Tom. "Kaia is going to be born in a couple of days, and we're still not ready."

"Relax B'Elanna. There's going to be plenty of time for that later." Tom said, trying to placate the half Klingon.

B'Elanna and Seven walked into the mess hall to find it empty. A table facing the largest view port was set up with a dark table cloth. The lights were at the lowest setting and there were two candles on the table.

Harry and Tom smiled secretively to each other. It had cost them both a lot of replicator rations but to them the look of surprise and shock B'Elanna and Seven's faces.

"I thought you just wanted to talk." B'Elanna said as sat down next to Seven, who didn't like to walk around quite as much anymore.

"Well there's no rule against being comfortable while we talk." Tom said as he and Harry sat down as well.

"You did not just invite Harry and I in the interest of saving time." Seven deduced.

"You're right Seven." Tom answered. "I wanted you both here because I want you to take me back B'Elanna." Tom said staring at her. "And I know that the only way that will happen is if I apologize to you Seven." Tom said as he turned his gaze towards her.

"I forgive you." Seven said almost immediately. She was never one to hold grudges.

"Wait a minute." B'Elanna said suspiciously. "I still don't know if you're sorry because you made Seven cry or because you think it's what I want here."

The sudden shifty look in Tom's eyes was all B'Elanna needed to know the truth. "Dam it Tom this is why we broke up." B'Elanna said angrily. "You only care about yourself! The only reason you want me back is because you don't want anyone else to have me."

"Let's all just calm down." Harry said trying to get things under control. "You're just jumping to conclusions B'Elanna. I'm sure that if you just give Tom a chance, things will be better."

"I've already given him too many chances." B'Elanna said, still worked up. "Come on Seven, we're leaving." B'Elanna said as she helped Seven to stand up.

"I'm not going to let you take her away from me again." Tom said as he starred angrily at Seven.

In a flash Tom was beside Seven and had pushed her out of the way causing Seven to land on her stomach with an audible thud.

"Seven!" B'Elanna said as she knelt beside Seven, completely forgetting about her argument with Tom.

B'Elanna carefully rolled Seven over to see tears streaking down her face as the younger woman clutched her stomach.

"The baby… it hurts… please help…" Seven gasped out in pain.

"I'll get you to the doctor Seven." B'Elanna promised as she lifted the crying Seven into her arms.

"B'Elanna I didn't…" Tom trailed off as he looked at the state that Seven was in.

"If you ever come near Seven again I'll kill you." B'Elanna said in cold voice that almost made Tom shiver and turn away.

"We have to walk down to sick bay." Harry said. "At this stage of the pregnancy it isn't safe to use the transporter." Harry said, still shocked by what Tom had done.

"Kim to the Doctor," Harry said as he tapped his comm. badge.

"Doctor here," the doctor answered back.

"Something is wrong with Seven and the baby. B'Elanna and I are bringing her down right now."

"I'll have everything ready for you." The doctor promised as he closed the link.

"Let's go." B'Elanna said in a slightly panicked voice as she quickly walked to the turbo lift, barley even waiting for Harry to come in before she said "sickbay, emergency express."

The doctor was waiting anxiously as the door to sick bay finally opened and B'Elanna rushed in with Seven in her arms closely followed by Harry.

"Put her on the bio-bed." The doctor ordered as he started to scan Seven. "What happed to her?" he asked as he looked over the scan.

"Tom and B'Elanna were talking and things got a little heated." Harry said trying to cover for his friend.

"He pushed Seven down and she landed on her stomach." B'Elanna said for Seven, who could only moan as she clutched her stomach.

"What's happening? How do we help her?" B'Elanna asked in frustration.

"When Mr. Paris pushed seven down she went into premature labor. The baby is coming now. You're going to have to wait outside Harry, only the parents are allowed in the delivery room."

Harry nodded dumbly as he walked out of the sick bay, intent on confronting his friends about what he had done.

"What can I do doctor?" B'Elanna asked as she held onto Seven's hand and rubbed her cheek soothingly.

"Just keep doing what you're doing." The doctor said. "All we can do right now is continue waiting."

"It's going to be okay Seven." B'Elanna promised. "The baby will be born in no time at all." She said as she kissed the younger woman's forehead.

"I did not know it would hurt this much." Seven whimpered. "Please do not leave." Seven pleaded.

"I'm not going anywhere." B'Elanna said as she moved to the chair that the doctor had brought her.

"I can see the head." The doctor announced.

"You're doing great Seven. You just have to push a little harder." B'Elanna said encouragingly.

"I can almost pull her out Seven." The doctor said. It still amazed him seeing a new life come into the world. "You just need to push the baby's shoulders out."

With another push from Seven and a light tug from the doctor the baby was born. It let out a cry as the doctor carefully cut the umbilical cord.

After a quick scan with the tri corder the doctor presented Seven with her baby.

"Doctor to the bridge," the doctor said as he tapped his comm. badge.

"What is it doctor?" The captain asked curiously.

"I would like you to meet the newest member of our crew." The doctor said with a huge smile. "Kaia Hansen-Torres."

"Put it on screen." The Captain said with a smile.

The view screen turned on to show Seven asleep, and baby Kaia lying beside her peacefully sleeping as well, with B'Elanna watching over them both with a huge smile on her face.

"We need to talk Tom." Harry said angrily. "What the hell were you thinking? Doing that to Seven, a very pregnant Seven." Harry almost shouted.

To Be Continued…


	11. Understandings and Realizations

Paha Toh: Well I can at least help with the last part

Lalene Brooks: Thanks, I mostly get flamed from people talk about how far away from Cannon I get.

Dark Borg Drone: Sorry to disappoint but this fic won't contain too much violence.

Anime-freak-4life: I guess I should clarify for you and everyone one else that reads this. I'm getting a lot of reviews that say KILL PARIS. It was never really my intention for people to see it that way. I just wanted him to come off as a little careless and childish, but I guess what ever works since I got a lot of reviews for this chapter.

Crashcart9: Wow, (shifts nervously) you may not like the way this chapter goes.

Anjanee: Thanks, all the review you've given me have really helped to get this chapter out faster.

Trekkie101: thanks, most people that don't like star trek slash pretty much hate my guts.

And on with the story

For The Love of a Child

Part Ten

"When can Seven come home?" B'Elanna asked the doctor.

"She can leave now if she's ready." The doctor said as they both watched Seven feeding baby Kaia. "Motherhood really does suit her doesn't it?" The doctor asked with a smile.

"If you had told me that a month ago I probably wouldn't have believed you, but now it just seems so obvious." B'Elanna agreed before she and the doctor joined Seven and Kaia in the sickbay.

"Well Seven everything seems to be in order." The doctor said just as she finished feeding the baby. "You can spend the rest of your recovery time at home."

"Thank you Doctor." Seven said as she stood up with a now sleeping Kaia in her arms. "How long will I have to spend recovering?"

"Honestly, you could go back to work tomorrow if you wanted to. Your nanoprobes are working overtime repairing your body. When you wake up in the morning your body will be back to the way it was before you had the baby."

"You don't have to rush anything Seven." B'Elanna said. "I think that the Captain will understand if you take some time off to adjust."

"It will not be a large adjustment. I had planned on bringing Kaia to work with me. Astrometrics is a relatively quiet environment, and there is a low probability of something dangerous happening there." Seven explained.

"You're right Seven." B'Elanna said feeling a little annoyed with herself for not realizing it first. "We could set up Kaia's play pen there. Structurally it's also one of the strongest points on the ship, and one of the least likely places to be attacked if we were boarded."

"Seven come back with Kaia at the end of Alpha shift tomorrow." The Doctor said. "I still need to run a few more tests on you and the baby."

"Yes doctor," Seven agreed as she, Kaia, and B'Elanna left sickbay.

Seven was surprised when she got home. She expected everything to be as they had left it when they went to dinner with Harry and Tom, but instead everything was fixed and all of the thing that they had gotten for their quarters to make it baby safe was installed.

"When did you find the time to do all of this?" Seven asked in surprise.

"While you and Kaia were sleeping I decided that Kaia shouldn't see her first home only half done." B'Elanna said with a smile.

"Thank you." Seven said as she kissed B'Elanna's cheek lightly.

"You're welcome." B'Elanna said with a slight blush. "Come on, we can put Kaia in her crib." B'Elanna said as the two walked into the bedroom.

"It is perfect." Seven said as she looked at the crib. It was made of replicated pine, and the inside had a soft mattress with plush toys on all sides and a baby blanket in the center.

She set Kaia down in the crib carefully and pulled the blanket over her. They both stood there for some time looking at their baby before reluctantly going into the living room.

"The Captain is going to discipline Tom for what he did at the morning meeting." B'Elanna said as she sat down beside Seven.

"What will the Captain do?" Seven asked.

"He'll probably spend some time in the brig and be demoted unless the doctor can find anything else in the tests that he did." B'Elanna explained. The very thought of what Tom did still angered her.

"I do not believe that he did it on purpose." Seven said after a long moment of silence.

"Sometimes you're just too nice for your own good Seven." B'Elanna said a little shocked that Seven could forgive so easily.

"He acted impulsively. This was not the first time he has done something without considering the consequences. I doubt very much that he planned it."

"Why don't we talk about it in the morning Seven? The more you rest the easier it will be on your nanoprobes." B'Elanna said, deciding that this was probably not the best time to get into an argument over it.

"Perhaps you are right." Seven agreed. "I am feeling tired." She said with a yawn.

"Go to sleep, I'll be there in a few minutes." B'Elanna said as Seven went into the bedroom.

_'I never would have guessed that you could make my life feel so complete Seven.' _B'Elanna thought to herself. _'I don't know when but somewhere along the line you became the most important person in my life.'_

B'Elanna quietly made her way to the bedroom and fell asleep beside Seven.

B'Elanna woke up the next morning to find that Seven was already out of bed and Kaia was most likely with her.

When she walked into the living room she found Seven feeding Kaia as she sat on the sofa.

"I am sorry B'Elanna. I did not have time to make breakfast." Seven said as she stood up.

"The doctor wasn't kidding when he said that you would be back to normal so soon." B'Elanna said in wonder. "And don't worry about breakfast. We can grab something in the mess hall."

B'Elanna looked down at the smiling face of baby Kaia and couldn't help but smile back herself. Kaia was absolutely perfect. She had Seven's hair and eyes, but her cranial ridges and skin tone were distinctly B'Elanna's. In a few more months Kaia's features would be a little more defined and they would be able to notice a few more things.

"I would like that." Seven said B'Elanna picked up the baby bag and they went to the mess hall.

When they reached the mess hall everyone's eyes were glued to baby Kaia.

"Is that baby Kaia I see?" Neelix said with a smile as he scurried over. "She's absolutely perfect. Do you think I could hold her?" He asked hopefully.

"You may." Seven said a little reluctantly as she transferred the baby to Neelix's waiting arms.

Almost as soon as Kaia left Seven arms she began to wail. After a few moments of trying to calm her down B'Elanna decided to step in, "Give her to me Neelix." B'Elanna said kindly. "I guess she just isn't used to you yet."

Kaia had immediately stopped crying but she was still sniffling as a few stray tears still ran down her cheeks. "It's okay Kaia." B'Elanna said soothingly as she rocked the baby back and forth.

"Let me try." Seven said as she took Kaia back into her arms. As soon as Kaia recognized who was holding her she began to smile again.

"It looks like someone just missed her mommy." Neelix said with a smile. "My niece was the same way when she was born. For the first few weeks she could only stand to be held by her mother. She'll probably feel more comfortable around you B'Elanna in the next couple of days."

"I suppose you're right. I did spend a lot of time getting our quarters ready when Seven and Kaia were sleeping." B'Elanna agreed.

"Why don't you and Kaia have a seat?" Neelix asked Seven. "B'Elanna and I will get you your breakfast."

"Thank you Mr. Neelix." Seven said as sat down at one of the tables near the view port.

When Seven was out of hearing range Neelix began to speak to B'Elanna again. "The doctor is going to tell us what happened when Tom pushed Seven at the morning meeting. Between you and me, the way that Seven fell, the birth shouldn't have gone as smoothly as it did."

"I've been trying not to think about it." B'Elanna admitted. "If something had happened to Kaia Seven would have been crushed."

"This is not going to be an easy day." Janeway said as she sat with Chakotay in the ready room.

"I just hope for everyone's sakes that it wasn't as bad as it looked. Seven would probably be a lot happier knowing that her baby wasn't in any real danger." Chakotay agreed.

Just as Chakotay finished speaking Harry and Tom walked in.

"Is this really something we should do in front of the senior staff?" Tom asked as he took his seat.

"This goes far beyond the level of your normal irrational behavior Mr. Paris." Janeway said coldly. "Your actions have affected the majority of the senior staff, perhaps this experience will act as a deterrent in the future."

"Yes, Captain." Tom said, unable to meet Janeway's eyes. After hearing Harry scream at him for a solid hour it finally got through to him how much of a huge mistake that he had made.

The rest of the senior staff entered a few moments later, most stopping to take a look at the new baby.

"Everyone please take your seats." Janeway said a few moments later when she realized that none of the staff would be returning to their seats anytime soon. "Doctor I believe that you have a report to give."

"Yes Captain." The doctor said reluctantly. "Seven perhaps you and Kaia should not be here for this." He said hoping that Seven would take him up on his offer.

"No. I wish to stay." Seven said after a long pause.

"Very well," the doctor said with a sigh. "First I would like to say that Kaia is completely healthy. She has no injuries from the fall and will not suffer any ill effect later on."

"You're stalling doctor." Chakotay interrupted, everyone already knows that.

"This is not easy for me to say." The doctor explained. "The way that Seven fell, the force of the landing, and the angle that she hit the floor at were potentially deadly. "If not for Seven's nanoprobes Kaia would have died, and Seven would have probably died shortly after."

"No." Seven whispered as she held Kaia a little closer. Even though she whispered it, in the long silence after the doctor had told everyone his findings everyone heard.

"It's okay Seven." B'Elanna said soothingly as she rubbed the younger woman's arm. "Kaia is fine, the nanoprobes saved her."

This only caused Seven to begin crying softly, which in turn effected Kaia's mood as well. Kaia also began to whimper as she watched her mother cry, and her own tears joined her mothers.

Tom could only just sit there, staring at Seven. His face had lost all of its color as he fully realized what he could have done to Seven.

"I know that Kaia is fine, but it is all that I can think about." Seven said sadly. "It does not make sense, it is illogical yet the feeling will not go away."

"Just give it time." B'Elanna said as she pulled Seven to her feet and gave her and Kaia a hug. "Why don't you go down to Astrometrics? I'll be there as soon as the meeting is over."

"I will comply." Seven said as she picked up the baby bag.

"Nothing bad will ever happen to Kaia as long as I'm around." B'Elanna promised as she kissed Seven's forehead, then Kaia's.

When Seven left the ready room B'Elanna sat down in her chair heavily with a sigh. _'Seven never goes back to borg speech unless she's really upset.' _B'Elanna thought.

"Mr. Paris you have no idea how lucky you are that Seven's baby is healthy." Janeway said angrily. "This very well could have been a trial for murder. Do you have anything to say for yourself before I tell you what your punishment is?"

"Captain it was just a mistake." Tom pleaded. "I never wanted to hurt Seven or her baby. I just wanted to talk to B'Elanna and Seven was just standing in the way…"

"I have heard enough Mr. Paris. You will spend one month in the brig, you will be reduced to the rank of Ensign, and your replicator ration are suspended for the three months after you serve your time in the brig." Janeway said coldly.

"Yes Captain," Tom said, unable to meet anyone's eyes as Tuvok escorted him to the bridge.

"Captain are we finished here?" B'Elanna said anxiously.

"Yes B'Elanna, go ahead and check on Seven." Janeway said as she dismissed everyone.

"Thank you Captain." B'Elanna said as she quickly left the bridge.

Seven smiled as Kaia giggled from her play pen. Kaia lay on her stomach holding a stuffed monkey and staring curiously at what her mother was doing.

"Would you like to see what I am doing?" Seven asked as she walked over and picked up Kaia.

Kaia only smiled and touched the implant under Seven's ear.

Seven took it as a yes and showed Kaia the area of space that they were traveling through. "We are going to the Alpha quadrant Kaia, even though it is still a long way from here. Everyone wants to go to a small planet called Earth." Seven said as she brought up a picture of Earth.

"When we get there I'll show you both around." B'Elanna said as she walked in.

"B'Elanna." Seven said as she turned around.

"Tom is going to be in the brig for a month. he's down to ensign and won't have any replicator rations for a month after he gets out of the brig." B'Elanna informed Seven.

"I am sorry for becoming emotional B'Elanna. I did not think that the situation would affect me the way that it did." Seven admitted.

"No one blames you for the way you acted." B'Elanna said reassuringly. "This was all Tom's fault."

"Do you believe that Voyager will be able return to the Alpha Quadrant?" Seven asked, changing the subject.

"I think that if anyone has a chance to make this journey it's us." B'Elanna said thoughtfully.

"What will you do when we return?" Seven asked curiously.

"Well I guess the first thing would be to visit my mother. She's probably going to want to meet baby Kaia." B'Elanna said with a rye smile. "What about you Seven? Who are you going to see when we get back?"

"There is no one. All of the important people in my life are here on Voyager." Seven said truthfully.

"Do you mean that there is no one waiting for you back home?" B'Elanna asked a little shocked.

"Neither one of my parents have any surviving family." Seven said a little sadly.

"So what do you do when we all get our ten minutes at the end of the month to talk to our families on earth?" B'Elanna asked curiously.

"I usually give it to a crew member that wishes to a family member that is ill, or will not survive long enough until our next communication with the federation." Seven answered.

"Why don't we use it this time to talk to my mother? She's probably going to want to talk to both you and Kaia. It isn't everyday that she becomes a grandmother." B'Elanna said.

"I would like that." Seven said with a smile. "The next time we will be able to communicate is at the end of the week."

"Let's talk more about it tonight." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven and Kaia's foreheads again before she left.

B'Elanna had returned to work with a smile. For some reason that she couldn't understand right away it was very important that Seven and Kaia were introduced to her mother.

"What are you thinking about?" Meagan asked curiously as she walked up to B'Elanna.

"Oh, it nothing really I'm just going to introduce Seven and Kaia to my mother." B'Elanna said as she looked up from her work.

"B'Elanna may I speak to you privately?" Meagan asked with a sigh.

"Sure Megan we can use my office." B'Elanna said as they walked in and closed the door.

"I don't think that it's any real secret that I'm interested in you B'Elanna." Meagan said.

"I'm sorry Meagan-" B'Elanna started to say.

"I know. You don't feel that way about me." Meagan interrupted. "I talked to the Captain a little while ago and some of what she said finally sunk in. If we can't be together I still want you to be happy."

"Thanks Meagan." B'Elanna said a little awkwardly.

Meagan looked at the way B'Elanna was acting and realized that she still didn't get it. "I can't believe you could be so thick." She said with a sigh.

"What are you talking about?" B'Elanna asked in confusion.

"I'm talking about the fact that you're in love with Seven! And the fact that she loves you too."

"I'm not in love with Seven." B'Elanna denied. "She is just my friend."

"Oh really, how many other friends do you have that you live with? That you're nervous about introducing your mother to? That you spend night and day worrying about?" Meagan asked.

"I love her." B'Elanna said with a smile on her face.

"She's a lucky woman." Meagan said. "How are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know. How do you know that she even thinks about me like that?" B'Elanna asked a little worried that Seven didn't feel the same way.

"Sometimes I wonder why everyone thinks that you two are the smartest people on Voyager." Meagan joked. "She loves you too. She probably just doesn't realize it yet."

"I guess I have a lot to talk about with Seven tonight. And Meagan thanks, you really are a good friend." B'Elanna said as she left the office.

"Anytime," Meagan said as she called out after her.

To Be Continued…


	12. Aftermath

I know I really, really should put out the next part of Evolutions, but the chapter is half done I promise. Right now I just find this story a lot easier to write. There's an 80 chance the next update I do will be for evolutions, but the more reviews I get, the faster I want to write(hint, hint)

Samantha quinn: Look I don't want to get into a big thing with you about this but if you ask anyone in the world calling someone lazy is an insult, and goes under the heading of flaming. Constructive means, ways to help the story, or things that can be improved

Sadipriss: You caught me, I goofed when I was writing it should be three months without replicator rations. About the filling out of conversations, tell me if I'm on the right track with this chapter.

A person: I actually have been thinking about taking it off hiatus, but I want to finish off at least one more of my stories first.

Hpfreak040290: I was hoping to convey B'Elanna being jealous for the reason she didn't let Seven go on the date with Harry.

Ouke no Ki: I probably should put an "AU" in the description but technically every piece of fanfiction out there is AU because it never happened in the show. What I'll most likely do is start giving a more detailed description on the first chapter.

Goddess Anjanee: I know I don't say it often enough but it really means a lot that you keep finding the time to review my stories.

For The Love of a Child

Part Eleven

B'Elanna felt nervous as she walked home after her duty shift. She knew that she loved Seven but she didn't know how to tell her.

_"What am I going to do?" _B'Elanna thought to herself. _"You don't just walk into a room and tell someone that you just realized that you're in love with them."_

B'Elanna kept mumbling to herself until she reached the door to her quarters. She stood outside for a few moments wondering what she was going to do before finally going inside.

"B'Elanna you are home." Seven said as she turned away from the food she was cooking.

"Yeah, there isn't much to do down there right now since we haven't run into any hostiles in the last month." B'Elanna explained. "Where's Kaia?"

"She is asleep in her crib." Seven said as pointed to the center of the room.

"So what's for dinner?" B'Elanna asked as she leaned against the counter beside Seven.

"I have made pot roast with a garden salad." Seven said as she finished preparing the salad. "We can eat now if you wish."

"It smells good." B'Elanna complimented. "Why don't you sit down while I set the table?"

Seven gave a slight smile to this and sat down in her chair.

As they began to eat B'Elanna couldn't help but notice how good Seven's cooking was. "I never knew that you could cook so well Seven. When did you find the time to learn?"

"I began to learn soon after I was pregnant with Kaia. When I moved in I decided that I needed to do something to improve our relationship." Seven replied.

"I don't think that it would have mattered in the end Seven. It may have taken a little longer without Kaia but I know that we would have moved past our first meeting." B'Elanna reassured Seven.

"I am glad. I never wish to go back to the way things were before." Seven admitted.

"No matter what happens Seven, I promise I will never treat you like that again." B'Elanna promised.

"Thank you." Seven said feeling reassured.

"Let's talk some more on the couch." B'Elanna suggested when they finished eating.

Seven nodded as she began to clear the table. This was not a conversation that she was looking forward to.

"Don't worry about the dishes." B'Elanna said softly as she took Seven's hand. "I'll take care of it before we go to sleep." She said as she led Seven to the couch.

B'Elanna noticed that Seven was going to sit down on the far side of the couch, and knowing how emotional this was going to be for Seven B'Elanna took her hand again before she sat down and led her to the arm chair.

B'Elanna sat down first and then pulled Seven into her lap and put her arms around her in a loose hug. "You can fool everyone else Seven but not me, I know that this is hurting you and I'm not going to let you up until we finish talking about this."

"It is nothing." Seven denied as she tried to get up. "I was just being over emotional."

"No you weren't." B'Elanna said as wrapped her arms tighter around Seven and pulled her back down. "Now talk to me, because I can wait all night."

"Yes B'Elanna." Seven said with a sigh as wiggled around a little bit to get more comfortable and lay her head down on B'Elanna's shoulder.

"You'll feel better after we finished talking about it." B'Elanna said as she started to run her fingers through Seven's hair.

"I did not know that it could have been this bad, that I could have lost Kaia." Seven said with a sob.

"I didn't expect it either, but everything is fine now. Your nanoprobes saved her life and yours as well." B'Elanna said as kissed Seven's head.

"Why do I feel like this?" Seven asked. "I know that Kaia is fine, that I am fine but… I do not understand." Seven said feeling confused.

"I think it's because you've only just begun to feel your emotions. You can still be afraid of something even after it has already happened." B'Elanna said going back to stroking Seven's hair.

"How do I make this feeling stop?" Seven asked.

"You don't, eventually the feeling goes away by itself. It just takes time."

"I know that I forgave Mr. Paris but every time that I see him I remember what he did. I am… afraid of him." Seven realized. "I thought that by forgiving him I would not feel this way, but it does not help. It feels as if I did not forgive him at all."

"Seven just because you forgive someone doesn't mean that you have to forget everything that they've done or not be afraid of them. Believe me when I tell you this Seven. He will never even come close to hurting you or Kaia again." B'Elanna promised.

"I believe that you will do everything in your power to protect us, but I am still afraid." Seven said with a sigh.

"It's okay to be afraid Seven. It's part of being human." B'Elanna said with a smile.

"Thank you for making me speak about this B'Elanna. I am still afraid but not as much as it was earlier.

"I will always be here for you Seven." B'Elanna said as she leaned back into the chair and hugged Seven closer.

Seven and B'Elanna sat like this for another couple of hours in a comfortable silence, just enjoying each others company.

"We should probably get to sleep." B'Elanna said as she looked at the clock. "There's no telling when Kaia is going to wake up."

Seven nodded and got out of B'Elanna's lap a little reluctantly. B'Elanna stood up as well, and took a hold of Seven's hands firmly in her own.

They both walked to the crib and smiled down at Kaia, each kissing her on the forehead as Seven pulled the blanket around Kaia.

The pair changed and got into bed, but B'Elanna could tell that Seven was still feeling upset.

"Come here." B'Elanna said as she moved to the center of the bed and lay down on her back.

Seven didn't need to be told twice as she moved to center of the bed and lay her head back down on B'Elanna's shoulder. She let out a happy sigh as she felt B'Elanna's arms wrap around her.

"Thank you." Seven said as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Seven woke up the next morning to hear Kaia crying. Getting out of bed was going to be a little tricky as well. She did not want to wake up B'Elanna, but during the knight they had shifted positions slightly and now B'Elanna was spooning her and had a hand firmly wrapped around her stomach.

Seven slowly took B'Elanna's hand and gently removed it from around her waist and eased out of bed. A quick glance to the bed showed that B'Elanna was still asleep but had used Seven's pillow in her place.

"I am here Kaia." Seven said as she bent down next to the crib and watched as Kaia reached up for her in amusement before picking her up and bringing a smile to Kaia's face.

"You must be hungry." Seven said as she fed Kaia and thought about what was going to happen today.

When Kaia was finished Seven looked over at the table. B'Elanna had forgotten to clear the table the previous night.

Seven placed Kaia inside her play pen, giving Kaia her toy monkey and started to make breakfast.

_"Perhaps B'Elanna would like some banana pancakes."_ Seven thought to herself as she made the batter and started cooking.

"Something smells good in here." B'Elanna said as she walked into the living room dressed and ready for work.

"I have made banana pancakes." Seven said as looked up from the dishes that she was washing from the night before.

"I was going to clean those up." B'Elanna said as kissed Kaia's forehead.

Seven simply raised her eyebrow at the comment in amusement.

"What? I was. Don't look at me like that. Alright fine I was putting it off for a while. Just get ready for work I'll finish up." B'Elanna said as she shooed Seven away, never giving her a chance to speak in the entire exchange.

Seven came back into the room just as B'Elanna had finished washing the last dish. Today she was wearing her hair up in its usual bun except for two strands coming down on both sides of her forehead a pair of black pants cut close to her body and wearing a white blouse, completing her outfit with a pair of black heels.

"You look great Seven. I like the new hair style." B'Elanna complemented.

"Thank you, when I leave my hair down Kaia likes to pull on it." Seven explained.

As the pair sat down for breakfast B'Elanna decided to make conversation.

"Do you want to have lunch together?" B'Elanna asked.

"I would like that." Seven said after she finished her bite of pancake.

"Great, meet me down at engineering at about 12.30."

"We will see you then." Seven confirmed.

"We better get going Seven." B'Elanna said looking at the clock, then picking up Kaia's bag while Seven picked up Kaia.

When B'Elanna and Seven entered the ready room for the morning meeting they noticed that for the first time they were the last ones to arrive.

Everyone else noticed that when the pair arrived B'Elanna had her arm around Seven's waist as the trio sat down next to each other in the last two remaining chairs.

"Alright, let's begin the meeting." Janeway said, bringing all of the other conversations to an end. "Seven do you want to know what Mr. Paris's punishment is?"

"B'Elanna has already informed me." Seven said as Kaia placed a wet kiss on Seven's cheek with a happy gurgle.

"I know that the punishment seems light after what he has done but we just can't afford the resources to keep someone in the brig for more than a month. I have placed a restraining order on him though. He will not be allowed to come within 10 feet of you or Kaia, except for any senior staff meeting where two security officers will be escorting him." Janeway said apologetically.

"I understand Captain, I will adapt to the situation." Seven said drawing strength from her talk with B'Elanna the night before.

"Seven you still haven't brought Kaia back for her check up." The doctor reminded her.

"We will see you as soon as the morning meeting is over." Seven promised.

"If only the rest of the crew would follow your example." The doctor said as he stared pointedly at the rest of the senior staff. "You should all be setting a good example for the rest of the crew."

"Does anyone else have anything to report?" Janeway asked changing the subject before the doctor broached the subject of her own attendance to sickbay.

"I do Captain." Chakotay said. "Seven I have just authorized a replicator allowance for Kaia. You won't have to use your all of your own rations for her now.

"Thank you Commander." Seven said politely. In truth Seven was wondering how she and B'Elanna were going to manage their rations with Kaia needing new things on almost a daily basis.

"On a personal note Seven, if you ever want to talk about any of what happened my door is always open." Janeway offered.

"Thank you Captain, but B'Elanna and I spoke about it last night. I am dealing with what has happened." Seven said.

"B'Elanna how is everything in Engineering?" Janeway asked.

"There isn't anything much to report. Since we haven't run into any hostiles for a while all that we're doing is fixing the patch jobs we didn't have time to fix properly before and running diagnostics." B'Elanna reported.

"Well I guess that's all we need to discus today, you're all dismissed." Janeway announced as she left the ready room followed by Chakotay and Tuvok.

"I'll see you two for lunch." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven and Kaia on the cheek before she left.

"So what did Seven say last night?" Meagan asked curiously.

"What are you talking about?" B'Elanna asked.

"You were supposed to tell her that you were in love with her." Meagan said a little annoyed.

"Oh, I never got the chance. Seven was really upset about what happened with Tom. We stayed up and talked about it until we went to sleep." B'Elanna explained.

"The rest of us never stood a chance did we?" Meagan thought wistfully.

"The rest of us?" B'Elanna asked curiously.

"Come on you had to have noticed." Meagan said incredulously.

At B'Elanna's confused look Meagan continued. "You can't tell me that you didn't notice Paris, and me trailing after you not to mention Harry and the Captain going after Seven."

"I knew about Harry and the Captain going after Seven but I didn't notice anything about Tom or even about you." B'Elanna said a little shocked about not noticing any of it sooner.

"Well I guess you were a little busy the last few weeks taking care of Seven." Meagan allowed. "So when are you going to tell her?"

"I'm thinking about doing it tonight actually. I'll leave a couple of hours before the end of shift, tell Seven I love her and make a special dinner for Seven and Kaia." B'Elanna said thoughtfully.

"It sounds good. tell me how it turns out." Meagan said as she returned to her work.

_Seven and Kaia followed the Doctor to Sickbay and allowed him to complete his medical exams of both mother and daughter. Both were healthy and the doctor reminded them to come in for their monthly check-ups. Seven agreed before she went to Astrometrics to complete her duties._

"It is time to go see B'Elanna." Seven said as she smiled down at her daughter and watched Kaia's eyes light up at the mention of her.

Kaia immediately thrust her arms up, wanting to be picked up right away.

Seven grabbed Kaia's baby bag and picked up Kaia as she saved her work and left Astrometrics.

"Hi Seven," Harry said as soon as he spotted Seven walking away from Astrometrics. "Would you like to have lunch together?" he asked hopefully.

"I have already made plans with B'Elanna. You may accompany us if you wish." Seven offered.

"Sure that'd be great." Harry said as they walked into engineering.

"Do you know where B'Elanna is?" Seven asked when she spotted Lt. Carey.

"She's in her office Seven, just go on up." Carey said.

"Thank you Lt." Seven said as she walked into B'Elanna's office followed by Harry.

"Hi Seven," B'Elanna said, getting out of her chair and offering it to Seven so she could sit down. "Just give me a second." She said as she saved her work and put away the data pads she was looking at.

When B'Elanna looked at Seven she couldn't help but notice the eager smile on Kaia's face and her arms stretched out expectedly.

B'Elanna picked Kaia up from Seven's arms and kissed Kaia's forehead. Kaia responded by placing one of her own wet kisses on B'Elanna cheek.

"She misses you when you go to work." Seven said with a smile.

"I miss you both too." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven's cheek as well.

"What are you doing here Harry?" B'Elanna asked a little suspiciously. After she had found out that Harry was chasing after Seven she was a little suspicious of his intentions.

"Seven asked me to join you guys for lunch." Harry said noticing how close the two women seemed to be.

"Is this a problem?" Seven asked when she noticed the looks Harry and B'Elanna were giving each other.

"No, it's nothing." B'Elanna responded first. "Let's go." B'Elanna added as she put her free hand around Seven's waist, almost as if marking her territory leaving Harry to follow behind them.

When the group reached the mess hall B'Elanna passed Kaia into Seven's arms. "Seven, why don't you find a table I'll go get us some lunch."

"I'll help you carry the trays." Harry offered, wanting to talk to B'Elanna alone.

Seven took Kaia and went to a table near one of the view ports and began to breast feed her while Harry and B'Elanna walked to the replicators.

"B'Elanna what was all that about?" Harry asked referring to how close B'Elanna was with Seven. "I know you two are closer now but, you act like she's your wife."

"And what if I do?" B'Elanna asked. "Is it so strange to think that something could happen between us?"

"Come on, she was about to go on a date with me before you butted in. If anyone has a chance it's me." Harry said sure of his success.

"There was a lot more to it than that." B'Elanna said.

"I bet I probably have the best chance out of anyone on the ship." Harry boasted.

"First off, anyone that Seven would even consider going out with would have to love her daughter just as much as she does, and second Seven if off limits for betting of any kind." B'Elanna said in annoyance as she left Harry to carry his own tray to the table.

"Here you go Seven." B'Elanna said as she set the tray in front of Seven.

"What is it?" Seven asked curiously as she poked it with a spoon, and watching in amusement as Kaia scrunched her face at is as well.

"You mean to tell me that you've never had Irish Stew before?" B'Elanna asked incredulously.

"It can not be as wonderful as you say." Seven said as she looked at it again. "See Kaia agrees with me." Seven said with a smile as Kaia moved her head away from the plate.

"Oh she would." B'Elanna said smiling as well. "We all know that she's a mommy's girl." B'Elanna said referring to the fact that Kaia would only let Seven hold her at first.

"At least give it a try." Harry said, joining in as he took a bite of his own stew. "See it tastes fine." He said after taking a bite.

"I do not believe you." Seven said as she poked at it again.

"At least try a bite before you say you hate it." B'Elanna said as she held a spoon full of it at Seven's mouth.

Seven reluctantly opened her mouth and allowed B'Elanna to feed her a bite.

"Well?" Both Harry and B'Elanna asked after Seven swallowed.

"It is satisfactory." Seven mumbled as she looked away.

"So then I was right about the stew." B'Elanna teased. "And if I'm right that makes you…" B'Elanna trailed off with a smirk.

"Wrong." Seven muttered, but unable to keep the smile of her face.

"What was that Seven? I don't think I heard you right?" B'Elanna said with a laugh.

"I was wrong." Seven said more clearly as she poked B'Elanna in the side.

"Did you all hear that?" B'Elanna said as she stood up beaming. "Finally Seven of nine admits she was wrong and I was right." She crowed to everyone in the mess hall.

"Sit down." Seven said as she tugged on B'Elanna's sleeve. "Or I will do the same thing the next time that I am right." Seven joked.

The pair both burst into laughter as B'Elanna sat down, followed by the happy gurgling of Kaia.

"Seven I was wondering, now that Kaia is born do you think we could try going out?" Harry asked hopefully. He knew for a fact that if he didn't do something soon B'Elanna would get her.

"I am sorry Harry, but Kaia takes a long time to get used to people, and until she does I would not feel comfortable with dating." Seven explained, hoping that Harry wouldn't be upset.

"It's okay Seven. I understand. You're worth the wait." Harry said directing a smug look towards B'Elanna.

B'Elanna for her part just ignored it. If Harry wanted to make an ass out of himself later down the road far be it from her to stop him.

"I believe the time for lunch is over." Seven said as she got her stuff ready to go. "I will see you at home for dinner?" Seven asked B'Elanna.

"Count on it." B'Elanna said with a secretive smile as she stood up and kissed Kaia and Seven good bye.

B'Elanna had just left her duty shift early for the first time in Voyager's history. Everything had to be perfect for when Kaia and Seven came home.

B'Elanna had dimmed the lights and set up candles all over the living room, making sure to keep them well away from where Kaia could reach, and had requisitioned Seven's favorite food, fettuccini Alf redo.

As soon as the door opened B'Elanna turned to face the door with a smile on her face.

"B'Elanna?" Seven questioned as she walked into their quarters with Kaia on her hip.

"I wanted to surprise you." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven and Kaia's cheeks before putting Kaia in her play pen.

"Seven I don't really know how to say this, but when you came to live with me it was because I didn't want to feel guilty about what happened, and when you left I realized how much I wanted you in my life, needed you in my life." B'Elanna said her voice thick with emotion. "I don't know when for sure, but somewhere along the line I fell in love with you."

"I do not know what to say B'Elanna." Seven said in surprise.

"Just say what you feel Seven, who do you see yourself spending the rest of your life with?"

"I…" TO BE CONTINUED…

I just get more reviews when I leave you hanging like that.


	13. Loose Ends

I made it to 100 reviews, this is so cool. My next goal is going to be 150 to anyone that wants to help me out.

Thank you for reviewing: darthjag, Azeel Rose, Just a fan, HPfreak040290, Anime-freak-4life, Dreamer20715, annapixiebell,

Allie: I think it's mainly because they consider my stuff AU, and want a warning or something.

Goddess Anjanee: Thanks, I figure Star Trek has gotten to the point where same sex parings aren't really taboo anymore.

Borgoutpost: Funny you should mention the technical errors. At the end of the story I'm going to give it an over haul. Grammar, spelling, and proper spelling of names, if you can think of anything like that to change send me a review at the end of the story.

Hamstadini: Wow, that was probably the longest review I have ever gotten. I guess we're just going to have agree to disagree about our definitions for fanfiction. I consider it to be more of an open ended set up that a writer can change anything about, except for the names. I might even end up writing a story down the line where Janeway is a man, or Tuvok isn't Vulcan. For most of my ideas to work you pretty much have to throw what you know about Star Trek Voyager out the window. I don't say to you because I'm mad or even annoyed, it's just the way I see things. I pretty much have to write the story the way I see fit, and won't spend my time apologizing for the next turn my stories takes regardless of ridicule or parodies I get as a result. I hope you decide to review my story again, but take into account, I won't change the characters because people want me to, if anything it's purely coincidental if at all.

Dark Borg Drone: Fair enough

JadziaKathyryn: Oh come on you had to have seen it coming.

Raymond Monaghan: Thanks, but I think some would disagree with you about the characters being true to the show.

Samantha Quinn: If the characters don't behave any way I like how should they behave? Anyway I would have considered changing a few things around but what you're asking for is a complete re-write of the story. I think it's way too late to change the story know, even if I wanted to. There isn't any point to talking about it anymore.

SadiPriss: You aren't the first one to notice that, and it's definitely something I need to work on, I may be able to fix some of that at the end of the story.

A person: Harry Potter Warrior of the light is definitely a priority. I just waited too long to introduce Emma and have to change the story so she shows up in earlier chapters.

For The Love of a Child

Part Twelve

_"Just say what you feel Seven, who do you see yourself spending the rest of your life with?"_

"I can not imagine my life without you in it." Seven said truthfully. "But I have never been in a relationship with anyone before. What if I make a mistake? What if I ruin what we have now?" Seven asked.

"I know this is a shock to you Seven, but it's the way I feel about you. This is the first time in my life that I've never had any doubts about anything. I know that this is the right thing." B'Elanna said as she leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Seven's lips.

"I… I do care about you B'Elanna and I wish to begin a relationship with you." Seven said when B'Elanna broke the kiss. "But I am just not sure that it is love. Being with you now is the closest that I have ever been to a real relationship. How do I know that it is real?"

"I know Seven. I guess I'm just going to have to show you." B'Elanna said with a smile.

"What will happen to us now?" Seven asked.

"We keep doing things the same way we were before. I just get to do this now." B'Elanna said as she leaned over and kissed Seven again.

"I believe that I enjoy that as well." Seven said with a smile. "You have made dinner." Seven said as she noticed all the trouble that B'Elanna had gone to.

"It's your favorite, Fettuccini Alfredo." B'Elanna said as she led Seven towards the table.

B'Elanna and Seven spent the rest of dinner talking about the new turn to their relationship and how they were going to deal with the reactions of the rest of the crew.

"There is one other thing I was wondering about." B'Elanna asked as they finished eating.

"What is it?" Seven asked as she cleaned the plates.

"It's actually about Kaia. She's less than a week old but she seems so alert. When we had lunch yesterday it felt like she really understood what was going on." B'Elanna explained.

"It is because of my nanoprobes." Seven explained. "They were accelerating Kaia's growth rate before she was born. They had also improved Kaia's fine motor control and memory before they deactivated themselves."

"Are the nanoprobes going to do anything else?" B'Elanna questioned.

"No, Kaia would have had the same fine motor control and memory in four months even without the nanoprobes." Seven said.

"Oh, I get it. The nanoprobes were inside Kaia when she was born, and on the way out of her system they decided to make some improvements." B'Elanna realized.

"You are correct." Seven said with a smile.

"It's getting pretty late Seven. Maybe we should get to bed. Kaia does wake up pretty early." B'Elanna suggested.

"I concur." Seven said as went to the bathroom to change into her night gown.

B'Elanna followed suit and went into the bedroom to change. When she came out she noticed that Seven was lying down on the couch.

"What are you doing over there?" B'Elanna asked with a frown. "I thought that we already had this discussion." She said as she knelt down next to Seven.

"The doctor's lessons on dating," Seven responded. "When two people begin a relationship it is inappropriate for them to sleep together for at least three months after the start of the relationship."

"Oh no you don't Seven." B'Elanna said a little worried that she might loose the argument. "What the doctor said wasn't a rule. It was just a guideline."

"It would no longer wake you up when Kaia starts crying." Seven argued.

"First off it never bothered me before, and second it's bad for your back to sleep on the couch." B'Elanna countered.

"I will remain on the couch." Seven said trying to be firm.

"Ok." B'Elanna said with a smirk as she climbed onto the couch behind Seven and wrapped her arm around Seven's stomach.

"What are you doing?" Seven asked. "You already have a place to sleep."

"That bed is just too big for one person, besides this is kind of comfy." B'Elanna said as she placed her other arm underneath Seven's head, giving her a pillow.

"It is." Seven said with a sigh, giving in a little.

"Remember when you stayed with Samantha and Naiomi that one night?" B'Elanna asked.

"Yes, it was the night of my first confrontation with Mr. Paris." Seven remembered with a frown.

"I didn't get any sleep that night Seven. I guess I just got used to holding you like this when I went to sleep. It just doesn't feel right any other way." B'Elanna explained.

"I also found sleep difficult without you." Seven admitted.

"Well there you go Seven, and I know that you don't want to be responsible for the chief engineer not being fit for duty." B'Elanna said with a smile. "After all people's lives are at stake." She teased.

"You have made your point." Seven said with a laugh.

"You know Seven, since we're both going to be sleeping together anyway we might as well use the bed. It might get a little cold without a blanket tonight." B'Elanna persuaded.

"It would be logical." Seven agreed, deciding not to point out the fact that room stayed the same temperature regardless of the time.

"I knew that you'd see things my way Seven." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven's cheek.

B'Elanna quickly got off the bed and picked Seven up into her arms before she had a chance to get up and started walking to the bedroom.

"You do not need to carry me B'Elanna." Seven said with a smile.

"What's your point?" B'Elanna asked with a smirk as she put Seven down in her bed and pulled the covers around them both.

"Goodnight B'Elanna." Seven said as she snuggled closer to B'Elanna and closed her eyes.

"Goodnight Seven." B'Elanna said as she wrapped her arms around Seven.

The Captain sat in the ready room waiting for everyone to arrive to the morning meeting. She was really hoping to get a chance to talk to Seven again. Ever since the incident Seven had avoided her at every turn, and in truth she missed the younger woman.

As if in answer to her question Seven walked in with Kaia in her arms and with B'Elanna's arm around her waist. The pair took their customary seats and waited quietly for the rest of the command staff to enter the ready room.

After a few minutes the last of the staff walked in and the Captain began the morning meeting.

Since Voyager was passing through a relatively quiet area of space there was not much to discuss. All that was left to take care of was minor repairs and system diagnostics.

"If that's everything you're all dismissed." Janeway said ending the meeting. "Seven please stay behind I have something to talk to you about."

"Are you going to be okay by yourself?" B'Elanna asked as she stood up.

"Kaia and I will be fine." Seven reassured her.

"I'll pick you two up for lunch." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven and Kaia's foreheads causing Seven to blush slightly.

"What did you wish to speak about Captain?" Seven asked as she rubbed Kaia's back.

"I noticed that you and B'Elanna have gotten pretty close." Janeway said referring to how comfortable they seemed around each other.

"Yes," Seven agreed. "B'Elanna has treated Kaia and me very well."

"Did you give any thought to what I talked to you about a few days ago?" Janeway asked hopefully.

"I am sorry Captain. I do not have the feelings for you that you want." Seven said trying to break the news as gently as possible.

"It's B'Elanna isn't it?" Janeway asked already knowing the answer.

"I have feeling for her Captain." Seven admitted. "I do not know if it is love but it is something special."

"Could things have ever worked out between us?" Janeway asked.

"I do not believe so Captain. Your first priority has and always will be to Voyager. I grew up with parents that did not have enough time for me Captain. I do not want that for Kaia." Seven explained.

"Does B'Elanna care for you as well?" Janeway asked at the thought of loosing the beautiful young woman.

"She said she loves me." Seven said as a smile began to form on her face.

"I care about you Seven and nothing is ever going to change that. I would rather have you as a friend than nothing at all." Janeway said with a sad smile.

"You will find someone for you someday Captain." Seven said as she smiled back, "a person that will care for you as much as you deserve."

"You really have come a long way as an individual Seven. I hope you find the happiness you deserve with B'Elanna." Janeway said as she came around the table and gave Seven a quick hug.

"I should go to Astrometrics." Seven said when Janeway broke the hug. "And thank you for understanding Captain." She said with a smile as she walked out of the door.

"So how did it go with Seven?" Meagan asked. "You got a chance to tell her this time right?"

"I told her." B'Elanna said with a smile. "She said that she cared about me and wanted to have a relationship with me. She just isn't sure if it's love yet."

"I'm happy for you." Meagan said with a sad smile. "And don't worry about Seven. She's going to realize it eventually."

"Thanks Meagan," B'Elanna said sincerely.

"Anytime," Meagan said as she returned to what she was doing.

B'Elanna smiled as she began to examine the dilithium mixture of the warp core. She couldn't wait until she saw Seven and Kaia again.

The minutes seemed to take forever as B'Elanna called for the time the 10th time in the past 2 hours. She was getting impatient with how long it was taking her to finish. She still had to talk to Seven about what they were going to say to her mother.

"B'Elanna, you seem a little impatient." Carey observed.

"I just want to get this done as soon as possible. I'm taking Seven and Kaia to lunch, and there are a few things that I need to talk to her about." B'Elanna explained.

"Well why don't you just head down then? I can finish up here for you, it should only take another twenty minutes." Carey offered.

"Thanks Carey." B'Elanna accepted with a grateful smile. "I owe you one."

"Just one?" Carey joked as B'Elanna rushed out of engineering.

B'Elanna didn't even hear Carey's joke because she was already out the door and half way to Astrometrics by then.

Carey just shook his head and laughed as he finished up.

B'Elanna took a calming breath as she stood outside the door of Astrometrics. _'Come on, get yourself under control.' _B'Elanna thought to herself. _'You can't look too excited.'_

After a few moments of calming breaths B'Elanna opened the door and stepped inside to a sight that would melt anyone's heart.

Seven had Kaia in her arms and was singing her a lullaby and rocking her.

"Hi Seven," B'Elanna whispered as she quietly walked over to Seven and Kaia.

"Hello B'Elanna." Seven whispered back as she kissed B'Elanna.

"How long do you think she'll be asleep this time?" B'Elanna asked referring to Kaia.

"As long as there are no loud noises she should sleep for approximately two hours." Seven informed her.

"She didn't used to sleep this much." B'Elanna observed with a little worry.

"It is normal." Seven assured her. "The nanoprobes are almost completely out of her system. She must rely on her own body to produce energy now."

"Let's go get lunch." B'Elanna said as she grabbed Kaia's baby bag and the pair left Astrometrics.

"I think we should talk about what we're going to tell my mother tomorrow. I have the whole day booked off as well so we can talk to her whenever we're ready." B'Elanna said.

"You seem reluctant to speak to your mother." Seven observed.

"Well this is pretty big. I'm just not sure how to tell her that I suddenly have a daughter, and on top of that the other parent is a woman." B'Elanna said.

"If you would like I can inform her." Seven offered.

"No, this would sound better coming from me." B'Elanna said as they entered the mess hall.

"Hey Seven over here," Harry shouted from the far end of the mess hall.

Kaia woke up at the loud noise and immediately began to wail. This caused B'Elanna to send a withering glare at Harry that would even make the Captain take a step back.

Seven began to rock Kaia and whisper to her soothingly until she calmed down. Unfortunately it didn't look like Kaia was going to go back to sleep anytime soon.

Harry blushed slightly as he realized his mistake and looked embarrassed as Seven and B'Elanna walked to his table and sat down.

"I'll go get us some lunch Seven," B'Elanna said, standing up and heading towards Neelix.

"So any chance you changed your mind about dating?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Yes, B'Elanna has convinced that there will be no harm in starting now." Seven said with a smile as she remembered the look on B'Elanna's face when she had agreed to start dating her.

Harry noticed Seven's smile and misinterpreted. "That's great Seven." He said enthusiastically. "How about we have dinner tonight, just you and me?"

Seven's eyes widened slightly as she realized that she had gotten Harry's hopes up for nothing. "No Harry, you do not understand." Seven tried to break it to him as gently as possible. "B'Elanna told me she loved me last night. I care about her."

"Excuse me." Harry said as the emotion left his face. He stood up and quickly walked over to B'Elanna and spun her around.

"We need to talk right now." Harry said as he turned on his heel and left the mess hall with B'Elanna right behind him.

"You knew that I wanted Seven, and you went after her anyway." Harry said feeling betrayed as soon as the doors closed.

"It didn't happen like that Harry." B'Elanna said feeling sorry for Harry. It seemed that he could never get the girl.

"Then how did it happen?" Harry demanded, feeling a little of his anger reach the surface.

"What happened between Seven and me has been a long time coming Harry. We just finally realized it. I've cared about her from the moment I met her, grey skin, implants and all. Why do you think we fought so much in the beginning?"

"You're telling me you're in love with her?" Harry asked as his anger faded to be replaced with a new feeling disbelief.

"I know it might be hard to believe Harry but it's true." B'Elanna admitted. "I love her more than anything."

"I care about her too." Harry said stubbornly.

"I know you do Harry, that's why you have to what's best for her and Kaia." B'Elanna agreed.

"What's best for her?" Harry asked.

"Seven and I have a baby together Harry. Like it or not that makes us a family. After everything that she's been through I can't think of anyone that needs, or deserves one more." B'Elanna said.

"So what? We all have family back home. She can just get to know them." Harry disagreed.

  
"Seven isn't like the rest of us." B'Elanna said hating the fact that she had to reveal more about Seven's private life. "She doesn't have anyone back home, friends, or family.

We all have people waiting for us back home, so we just take it for granted. Seven doesn't have that. She doesn't even remember what it's like to be part of a family, and she deserves to know, just as much as everyone else."

"It means that much to her?" Harry asked.

"It means everything to her." B'Elanna answered.

"If you ever hurt her B'Elanna-" Harry started to say.

"I won't. I love her too much for that." B'Elanna interrupted.

"Just remember B'Elanna if you ever screw this up, there's a lot of people waiting to take your place." Harry warned.

"I won't." B'Elanna promised. "Does this mean we're friends again?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes." Harry said with a huff. "I could never stay mad at my friends for too long anyway."

"Good, let's get back to Seven." B'Elanna smiled. "She's probably getting lonely by herself." She said as the pair went back into the mess hall.

"Is everything alright?" Seven asked, remembering the two leave leaving the mess hall.

"Yeah, everything's okay now." B'Elanna reassured her. "We just had to talk a few things out."

"I am sorry that I do not feel the same way about you Harry." Seven offered sincerely.

"It's okay Seven. I want you to be happy." Harry said as he caught up with his friends.

Harry missed just talking with Seven and B'Elanna. Ever since he and Tom had gotten the idea in their heads to get together with the two women most of his time was spent with planning ways to get the two women alone.

"I'll see you after work." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven and stood up.

"Naiomi would like to meet Kaia tonight." Seven said before B'Elanna left. "Will it be a problem?"

"Are you kidding? I haven't seen Naiomi in the longest time. I'm actually surprised that she waited this long. Tell her to bring Samantha as well. We can all have dinner together." B'Elanna said addressing Harry as well.

"I'd love to." Harry agreed with a smile.

"Dinner will be ready at 1700 hours." Seven informed Harry.

To Be Continued…

Since you guys were so patient with my last big cliff hanger I thought I'd give you a break, especially because of the way the last chapter of Evolutions ended.

Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW!


	14. Rebuilding Friendships

Thanks for reviewing: Dreamer20715, jim hawking jr, just a fan

Pvt-Vasquez: thanks, I actually think most of my flame reviews stem from that.

Kelani2539: You should probably seem Paris pretty soon.

Crashcar9: I agree with you about the emotion part. I've noticed with a lot of my stories that a consistent level of emotion is usually missing. It will definitely be something I'll try to fix for the final copy.

For the Love of a Child

Part Thirteen

Seven had just finished her shift in Astrometrics and had picked up Kaia. She had to get home soon to begin making dinner for everyone.

"Seven do you have a minute?" Janeway asked as she walked in.

"Certainly Captain," Seven said as she shifted the baby bag on her shoulder.

"I was wondering if you wanted to have diner with me, just as friends." Janeway asked. "I don't think we've had a real conversation since we found out you were pregnant."

"Perhaps you would like to join us." Seven said. "Naiomi and Samantha Wildman are coming to dinner tonight as well as Harry Kim."

"I would love to." Janeway said with a smile. "Should I bring anything?"

"No your presence will suffice Captain." Seven smiled. "If you will excuse me I must prepare dinner, it will be at 1700 hours."

"Sure Seven." Janeway said stepping aside, and watched as Seven and a sleeping Kaia walked around the corner.

When Seven reached her quarters and Kaia showed no sign of waking up Seven thought it was safe to leave her alone for a while and put her in her crib.

"Sleep well Kaia." Seven said as she placed a kiss in her forehead.

'_What shall I prepare for dinner?' _Seven thought to herself as walked to the kitchenette. _'Perhaps I could prepare a stir fry' _she thought as she began to replicate the raw ingredients.

Seven took out a large frying pan and added some vegetable oil. After it was heated Seven began to add the meat and vegetables. Before long she had finished. She placed a stasis field around the stir fry as well as the rice she had replicated.

"Hey Seven," B'Elanna said as she walked into the room, careful not to wake Kaia.

"Hello B'Elanna." Seven said as she walked over and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"So she finally got some sleep." B'Elanna said as she and Seven walked over to the crib. "Do you think that's she going to sleep through dinner?"

"That is highly unlikely." Seven said with a smirk. "Kaia has consistently awoken between the hours of 1600 and 1700 and has stayed awake for at least two hours."

"It is so weird how you know everything about her." B'Elanna joked.

"Kaia and I have never been apart since the day she was born." Seven said feeling a little hurt that B'Elanna thought it was weird. "It is only logical that I would understand her habits."

"Oh, come here." B'Elanna immediately picked up on Seven's change in mood as she pulled the younger woman into a hug. "I didn't mean it like that, it's actually pretty sweet." She said as she placed a kiss on her cheek.

"You do not think it is wrong? I do not wish to be a bad mother." Seven remembered the way her parents treated her.

"You're not a bad mother." B'Elanna denied as she sat down and pulled Seven into her lap, a position that they both had grown accustomed to. "I talked to the doctor just after Kaia was born. When I looked out of his office to see you holding our daughter it just looked so right. Even the way you handle her now, it's like you were born to be mother." B'Elanna finished, giving Seven another kiss.

"You are very kind to me. Thank you." Seven said as she rested her head on B'Elanna's shoulder comfortably.

B'Elanna and Seven stayed together like that for a long moment. B'Elanna's hands began to run through Seven's hair comforting her. Neither of them spoke. Words would only have broken the feeling of complete peace they were both feeling.

The moment was broken all too soon by the door chime. Seven reluctantly got out of B'Elanna's lap and answered the door.

She was greeted by Naiomi and Samantha Wildman. "I know you said 1700 hours Seven, but Naiomi wouldn't wait any longer."

"Hello Naiomi." Seven said with a warm smile.

"Hi Seven, where's Kaia?" Naiomi asked excitedly.

"She is asleep in her crib." Seven pointed to a corner in the living room.

Naiomi quietly made her way over to her and peeked at the little girl wrapped snugly in the blanket. "She's so cute. Is she going to wake up soon?"

"Kaia should wake when the rest of the guests arrive." Seven said as she placed Kaia's toy monkey beside her.

"Where did you get that?" Naiomi asked as she pointed to the stuffed monkey.

"Through my research I found that most children had a variety of stuffed animals at this stage of development. Kaia and I looked through the database and this was the one she reacted to most." Seven explained.

"She isn't kidding either." B'Elanna said with a rye smile. "I tried to giver a teddy bear to her but she didn't even look twice at it, just hugged that monkey of hers and looked away." B'Elanna said with a laugh.

"Kaia is very particular about her toys." Seven agreed.

"So how are you handling the early morning feeding?" Samantha asked.

"It is going well. Kaia and I have established a schedule of sorts. She will wish to eat as soon as she awakes, then once again at 2200 hours." Seven said.

"I remember those days. I barely got a wink of sleep." Samantha reminisced.

"Seven does okay. she's usually up before me." B'Elanna said.

"My nanoprobes allow me to function with less sleep." Seven explained.

"I think she's waking up." Naiomi said, having never taken her eyes off of Kaia.

"I believe that you are correct." Seven said as Kaia began to cry. She picked Kaia up, which immediately stopped her crying. "What has woken you up so early?" Seven asked as she looked at the clock witch only read 1645 hours.

Kaia let out a sniffle as she looked towards the people she had never met before.

"It is alright Kaia." Seven said in a soothing tone. "Please forgive her. She is not comfortable around strangers." She said to Naiomi and Samantha.

"We understand Seven, I'm sure she'll get used to us in no time." Samantha said.

"If you will excuse me, Kaia appears to be hungry." Seven sat as she walked to the sofa and sat down to feed Kaia.

Samantha and B'Elanna continued to talk as Seven fed Kaia. Naiomi decided she would rather talk to Seven, sat down beside her and filled her in all the things she had missed recently.

At 1700 hours sharp the chime ringed, just a few minutes after Kaia finished eating.

"I'll get it." B'Elanna said as she went to the door.

"Glad you could make it," B'Elanna said as she stepped aside to let the captain and Harry in.

Seven put Kaia in her play pen and served dinner to everyone.

"Wow Seven that smells great." Harry complemented as he sat down.

"It sure does. Did you make it yourself Seven?" Janeway asked.

"The ingredients were replicated but I prepared them myself." Seven said as she took a bite of her dinner.

"When did you learn how to cook?" Naiomi asked curiously.

"I decided to learn shortly after I became pregnant. It was a sort of piece offering between B'Elanna and me." Seven explained.

"And boy did it work." B'Elanna said as she took a big bite of her dinner. "I don't think I've ever eaten this well." B'Elanna complemented.

"Thank you." Seven said with a smile.

"I should be thanking you. I don't know what you do when you make banana pancakes but it is SO much better than the replicator." B'Elanna said.

"We have to come by for breakfast sometime." Harry said as he finished off his plate.

"I agree." Janeway said with a smile. "You're a lucky woman B'Elanna."

"I really am." B'Elanna said as she finished her plate as well, causing Seven to blush at all the compliments she was receiving.

When everyone had finished eating they went into the living room again. Seven picked up Kaia who was happily holding onto her stuffed monkey and hadn't noticed everyone else yet.

"Kaia is really well behaved." Samantha complemented. "She only cried once the entire time we were here."

"Did I cry a lot when I was little?" Naiomi asked curiously.

"Well you did, but I think it was mostly because of your spikes coming in." Samantha said thoughtfully.

"Seven are you going to talk to anyone from earth?" Naiomi asked referring to the ten minutes they all got at the end of the month.

"Yes, B'Elanna and I have decided to combine our time to talk to her mother. We believe that it will be easier to explain Kaia if she could talk to us directly.

"That's a good idea. I really don't think a letter will have quite the same effect." Janeway agreed.

"I couldn't agree more captain." B'Elanna agreed wholeheartedly. "But it's time for me to make dessert."

B'Elanna walked to the replicator and prepared a large chocolate cake with fudge icing. She cut a piece for everyone and handed them out.

"You're not going to give Kaia a piece?" Naiomi asked.

"She doesn't have any teeth." B'Elanna said with a laugh. "I don't think she can even eat solid foods yet."

Kaia seemed to disagree with B'Elanna because she reached into Seven's plate and scooped up a big chunk of the icing. She didn't seem very interested in eating it because she smeared it all over her face and stuffed monkey in an imitation of everyone else.

It had all happened so quickly no one had even noticed until Seven looked down and noticed a pair of tiny sticky hands on her blouse.

"Kaia?" Seven asked as she looked down at the smiling chocolate covered face of her daughter.

This brought the attention of everyone else, who couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

"You were saying B'Elanna?" Naiomi asked smugly.

"No Kaia." Seven admonished gently. "You may not have any more chocolate." She said as Kaia reached for another piece of cake and Seven had to put it on the coffee table out of reach.

Kaia only gurgled happily, content to smear what was left of the chocolate on Seven's blouse.

"If you will all excuse me I have a very dirt little girl to clean up." Seven said with a smirk as she took Kaia into the washroom.

"Kaia seems like a handful," Harry observed still grinning.

"Don't I know it." B'Elanna agreed. "She has so much energy for such a little girl. Most babies her age couldn't even get into half the stuff that she does."

"This isn't the first time she's done something like this?" Janeway asked.

"Well it's the first time she was able to do it, not necessarily the first time she tried something like this. Seven and I usually keep a close watch on her, I guess we were both distracted and didn't catch her in time."

"What else has she tried to do?" Naiomi asked with curious excitement.

"Well, she's always trying to pull on Seven's hair, it's actually why she wears it differently now. There was also the time she tried to get into the pancake batter a couple of days ago. Seven set her down on the table next to the batter so she could put on Kaia's socks. As soon as Seven looked away from Kaia she grabbed onto the bowl. If I hadn't walked in just then she would have tipped the bowl over her and Seven."

B'Elanna's guest couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing. From what little they had seen of Kaia she seemed like a perfect angel.

"I have to say its a little strange Kaia's only a couple of weeks old. She should barely be able to move let alone do half the things I've seen her do." Samantha said.

"Well it has something to do with the fact that it only took a month for Kaia to be born. Seven's nanoprobes were inside Kaia's body, speeding everything up. When Kaia was born one of Seven's nanoprobes entered Kaia's body and had to shut down all of the nanoprobes in Kaia's body down individually before shutting itself down. Kaia had a good two to three days of the nanoprobes speeding up her growth before they were stopped." B'Elanna explained.

"Do these nanoprobes pose a risk to Kaia?" Janeway asked, afraid that the Borg queen may be able to re-activate them remotely.

"No, it's perfectly safe. Before the nanoprobes shut down they entered Kaia's digestive system. The last of the nanoprobes left Kaia's body days ago." B'Elanna reassured Janeway.

"No more chocolate for you." Seven smiled to Kaia as she walked out of the washroom. She had replaced the white shirt she was wearing with a dark green one, and had put a light yellow t-shirt on Kaia.

Kaia seemed to have lost interest in the cake because she snuggled close to seven and closed her eyes.

"Is she asleep?" Naiomi asked.

"No, she is testing me." Seven responded.

"Testing you?" Samantha asked in amusement.

"Kaia does not wish to sleep when I am gone. She has taken to pretending to sleep for approximately 20 minutes before actually sleeping. If I were to even walk near her crib now she would begin to cry." Seven explained.

"Naiomi was kind of the same way after the first four months." Samantha said. "She understood things a lot faster than I thought she would."

Naiomi's face reddened slightly in embarrassment, but didn't say anything to her mother about it.

"We should probably get going." Samantha said as she realized the time.

Seven had fed Kaia for the second time that night and had already put her to bed long ago.

"I didn't realize it was so late." Harry said as he noticed the time was 2325 hours.

Harry, Janeway, Samantha, and Naiomi left shortly after thanking Seven and B'Elanna for a wonderful dinner, and of course a promise from Seven that they would be joining them for breakfast very soon.

"Well, that went pretty well." B'Elanna said as she climbed into bed. "Harry and the captain didn't seem that upset when you turned them down."

""I believe that the captain has realized that a relationship between the two of us would never have worked, especially with Kaia." Seven agreed.

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked.

"For the captain Voyager will always come first. She does not have the time to deal with family." Seven explained.

"I guess I see your point." B'Elanna conceded. "Truth be told, I don't think a relationship between the two of you would ever have lasted anyway."

"Why is that?" Seven asked curiously.

"It's because I love you Seven, and there's no way I'd let the Captain have you." B'Elanna admitted as she kissed Seven.

"I care about-" Seven began to say, but was silenced by a finger on her lips.

"It's okay Seven. I don't want you to say those words until you're sure about them. The fact that you know I love you is enough." B'Elanna said as she pulled Seven closer and closed her eyes.

Seven soon followed B'Elanna's example and the pair were asleep almost right away.

Seven awoke the next morning to the cries of Kaia, her advanced hearing able to detect it before it woke B'Elanna as well. She slipped out of B'Elanna's arms and went into the living room, where they had placed Kaia's crib.

"You are up rather early." Seven said as she picked Kaia up and began to feed her.

When Kaia had finished eating Seven played with her for a few moments before placing her monkey in her arms and preparing breakfast. She decided on something simple this morning. She prepared two serving of scrambled eggs, toast, and orange juice.

As soon as she finished she looked over at Kaia to see her watching intently.

Seven placed a stasis field around the breakfast and picked up Kaia again. "I have read that it is good for children to be read to at an early age. Would you like to hear a story?" Seven asked.

The only response from Kaia was a happy gurgle as she reached out for Seven's hair.

"I will take that as a yes." Seven said as pushed her hair behind her ear, and out of Kaia's reach.

Seven sat down on the sofa with Kaia in her lap and pulled out a data pad. "I have been saving this since before you were born Kaia. It is a data pad that shows pictures as well."

Seven activated the data pad and brought up the story Green Eggs and Ham. It was a classic children's story that was not recreated on the holodeck. The images and text were scanned from one of the original hard cover books.

Kaia was immediately drawn to the pictures and reached out to touch them with her hands as Seven began to read the story to her and go through the pages. Kaia happily touched the pictures and let out a happy gurgle whenever they changed.

B'Elanna woke up a few minutes into the story and went to find out what Kaia was so happy about.

"...I like green eggs and ham. I like them Sam I am." Seven fished the book.

"Is that what I think it is?" B'Elanna said as she looked over Seven's shoulder. "My aunt used to read me that story when I was little."

"It is a good first story for Kaia." Seven agreed. "I have downloaded many others." Seven said as she handed B'Elanna the data pad.

"Wow, you certainly have a lot here." B'Elanna was impressed with all of the stories Seven was able to download.

"We have to read Kaia this story tonight though." B'Elanna said as brought up the Curious George series.

Kaia looked up at the picture of the monkey and then down at her own stuffed toy.

"Yes Kaia." B'Elanna said with a laugh as she kissed the top of Kaia's head. "It's a story about a monkey just like yours."

Seven put Kaia back in her play pen so that Seven and B'Elanna could have breakfast. They had the earliest slot to talk to B'Elanna's mother.

After a relatively quiet breakfast Seven, B'Elanna and Kaia set out to the Astrometrics lab. It was the easiest place to send and receive messages using the Midas Array.

B'Elanna activated the view screen and was greeted by the sight of her mother.

"Mom, it's been a while." B'Elanna said, not sure how to address the woman she hadn't seen or spoken to in years.

"B'Elanna, it is good to see you." Miral greeted. "I knew that you would have survived."

"I have something important to tell you." B'Elanna said as she pulled Kaia and Seven closer. "I'm sending you a data file explaining everything because it takes a lot more than twenty minutes to explain this but, you're a grand mother. This is my daughter, and her mother."

To Be Continued...

Cliff hangers rule!! You all know what you got to do for the next part. Come on those reviews won't write themselves.


	15. You Belong To Me

Thanks for reviewing: Just a fan, Shawn, Savagelove, Crashcart9

Kelani: Well, this figure may change later as I write more chapters or edit old ones but about three months.

Goddess Anjanee: Thanks, I'm particularly happy about the way this chapter turned out, tell me what you think.

Jim hawking jr: It's pretty much what I'm famous form or actually infamous for

Dark Borg Drone: I guess I should be honest about flamers. I am going to defend my story when I read a comment I think is a flame but by the time I post the next chapter I've pretty much forgotten about the flame, unless it's something that really mean. You just can't get through the day if all you can think about is the flame that took ten seconds to write versus the chapter that took I don't know how many hours to write.

For the Love of a Child

Part Fourteen

"_I have something important to tell you." B'Elanna said as she pulled Kaia and Seven closer. "I'm sending you a data file explaining everything because it takes a lot more than twenty minutes to explain this but, you're a grand mother. This is my daughter, and her mother."_

"Your daughter… and her mother…" Miral said as she looked between the three of them. "How is this even possible?"

"Because I am part Borg I can be impregnated by both males and females. There was a transporter accident a month ago and Kaia was conceived. B'Elanna and I decided to keep her." Seven explained. She desperately wanted the acceptance of B'Elanna's mother.

As Miral looked at the young woman who was so obviously the mother to the little girl in her arms she didn't know what to think. Her explanation seemed to make sense and the fairly large data file she had received was most likely a more detailed technical explanation of what happened.

"I am a grand mother?" Miral asked, still unable to process what had happened.

"I know this comes as kind of a shock mom, but it's true." B'Elanna confirmed.

"Is there anything you would like to know?" Seven asked.

"Are you married?" Miral asked bluntly, which caused B'Elanna to blush.

"No, we have only recently begun a relationship." Seven answered, not showing any discomfort over the awkward situation they found themselves in.

"I see…" Miral said. "Only you could end up in a situation like this B'Elanna." Miral said with laugh. "I don't think you've ever done anything the normal way."

"You are not upset?" Seven asked curiously.

"Upset? I just found out I have a grand daughter and a soon to be daughter in law. I could not be happier." Miral smiled. After the initial shock Miral had genuinely warmed to the idea.

"How old is she?" Miral asked as she smiled at her granddaughter.

"Kaia is one week old." Seven said as she brought Kaia closer to the view screen so Miral could get a closer look.

"I assume you sent baby pictures in your data file as well." Miral smiled at Kaia.

"Our entire collection," B'Elanna said, happy for once that she was getting along with her mother.

"Good, I want more the next month as well." Miral said, knowing that messages could only be sent every thirty days using the Midas array.

A lot of thoughts were running through Harry's head as he walked towards the bridge for the beginning of his duty shift.

He knew that he should be happy for Seven and B'Elanna. They both clearly cared for each other very deeply. He had vainly hoped that the dinner party would give him something, anything to make him believe that Seven could be happier with him.

Sadly it wasn't the case, no one would be able to come between those three, and no one would be able to make Seven more happy than B'Elanna already had.

'_I don't want to feel this way about my friend.' _Harry thought to himself, feeling conflicted. _'Why can't I just be happy for them?'_

When Harry reached the bridge he noticed that he still had another ten minutes before his duty shift started. _'Maybe I should talk to the Captain about this.' _Harry thought. _'She said her door was always open. She cares about Seven too, she has to have a way do deal with these feelings.' _Harry thought as he ringed the entry chime.

The Captain sat in her ready room thinking about the dinner she had last night. In the beginning a part of her hoped that Seven and B'Elanna weren't getting along as well as they seemed. It was hard to look at the woman you loved with someone else.

Even though Seven had yet to say the words it was plainly obvious that she was in love with B'Elanna. The way they acted around each other, the way they knew each others habits so well, and the love they shared for their daughter was almost heartbreaking.

Through the heartbreak came a realization though. She could not give Seven and Kaia everything that B'Elanna could, and as much as she cared for Seven she had to let her go. She belonged with B'Elanna now, not her.

Janeway was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the chime to the ready room ring. "Come in."

"Captain I was hoping I could talk to you." Harry Kim said as he walked through the door.

"What would you like to talk about?" Janeway asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's about B'Elanna and Seven." Harry said as he sat down. "It's hard being around them now, knowing how close I was to being in B'Elanna's shoes."

"I think we both were." Janeway admitted starting what would most probably be a long philosophical discussion.

"I guess you're right, but as much as I'm happy for them I can't help but wonder if I had just done something differently Seven would have been with me." Harry sighed.

"Try this one." Janeway said with a rye smile. "Did you know that I was giving serious consideration to leading the away mission to that planet? In the end I decided that B'Elanna should go because I wanted her to get along better with Seven. Seven's daughter could have very well been my own."

"I see what you mean." Harry said, seeing the humor in it as well. "Well at least you got your wish. I don't think I've ever seen B'Elanna and Seven get along so well."

"Neither have I." Janeway admitted. "Speaking of getting along how is Mr. Paris taking all of this?"

"I honestly don't know. I haven't talked to him since he was put in the brig. I don't think that he even knows." Harry said.

"You haven't visited him at all?" Janeway asked a little shocked, after all Harry was Tom's best friend.

"I was pretty mad about what he did to Seven and Kaia, what he could have ended up doing." Harry admitted.

"Well, you're not alone in that. Tom will have to earn back the respect of a lot of the crew. I had no idea Seven was respected that much by the crew."

"It isn't only that. Gossip travels pretty quickly on this ship. It only took a couple of hours before the rest of the crew figured it out. At first people wondered how someone could strike down a pregnant woman, after all we're talking about hurting an unborn child, a complete innocent.

Then people started wondering about Seven. She was assimilated by the Borg as a child, just as innocent as Kaia is now. I guess everybody realized Seven's emotional development was a little above a child." Harry concluded.

"They felt guilty about the way they treated Seven in the past." Janeway deduced. "Suddenly it wasn't a peer they were fighting with. It was a child they were abusing."

"I was lucky enough to realize it at least partially in the beginning. I don't think the rest of the crew has said one bad thing about Seven since, to her face or behind her back." Harry agreed.

"At least some good came out of this then." Janeway said. "I know that this is something that I would normally do Harry but I think it would be better coming from you. Tom needs to know about Seven and B'Elanna, so at the very least he can get it out of his system before he's out of the brig. If you don't feel comfortable talking to him I understand though."

"No, it's alright. I'm still his best friend. I should be the one to tell him."

Harry had spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to talk to Tom. Since he hadn't visited him at all in the brig so far he didn't know how Tom would react to him or what he had to say.

Harry couldn't wait any longer though. He had made too many excuses already. Visiting hours were almost over, and it wasn't something that he could put off. The longer he waited the worse the end result would be.

Harry finally got a hold of himself and walked into the brig. "Hi, Tom," he said, the only words he could thing of.

"I'm surprised you came." Tom looked up from his seat on the cot.

Tom looked like he'd been taking the whole situation pretty hard. He face was unshaven, and he looked like he hadn't got much sleep in the past week.

"We need to talk Tom." Harry finally managed. Thos was probably one of the toughest conversations he had to have.

"It's about Seven, and B'Elanna isn't it? Are they okay? Nothing else is wrong with the baby is it?" Tom asked, becoming worried.

"No, Kaia's fine. I met her last night, she's a cute kid." Harry smiled, remembering Kaia's antics.

"I'm glad." Tom said sincerely. "What did you want to tell me about Seven and B'Elanna?"

"I know this is going to be hard to accept at first," Harry said trying to soften the blow. "But B'Elanna and Seven have started seeing each other."

"What? There's no way that can last. They'll be at each other throats in less than a week." Tom said, unable to except the fact that B'Elanna had moved on, and with Seven of all people.

"I saw it with my own eyes Tom." Harry said feeling bad for his friend. "B'Elanna's already told Seven she loves her. Seven hasn't said the words yet, but everyone else can see it."

"B'Elanna said she loved Seven?" Tom felt hurt. "In all the times we went out she never said that to me."

"We should have seen it from the very beginning Tom." Harry was upset at not picking up on something that was so obvious in hindsight. "Neither one of us stood a chance."

"Maybe if I could just talk to B'Elanna," Tom said desperately. "I can't loose her Harry. She's the first good thing to have ever happened to me."

"Believe me Tom, you're not the only one that feels like that. But B'Elanna, Seven and Kaia have a chance to be a family." Harry repeated B'Elanna's words.

"So what? We all have family waiting for us back home. Why should Seven be any different?" Tom asked mirroring Harry's own feelings a short while ago.

"Seven is different." Harry said, finally truly understanding B'Elanna's argument. "She doesn't have anyone back home waiting for her. No family to welcome her back home with open arms, no long lost friends she can spend her time with. To her Earth is just another planet full of people that may not accept her, that might even hate her."

Tom didn't have any retort to that. He never really thought about. He just assumed that everyone had someone waiting for them. That was the reason they were all trying so hard to get back to earth. Wasn't it?

"Can you honestly tell me that she deserves that Tom? She needs a family more than anyone. She deserves to have what we all seem to take for granted. Even if there's the smallest chance that they can make things work we have to step back, and let them have it."

"You're right." Tom found himself saying. "Seven does deserve to be happy, and so does B'Elanna."

"You're going to be out of the brig in another three weeks Tom. When that happens try to be happy for them. If you could see them now, see how happy they are…"

"I guess I just need time to think things through." Tom said with a sigh.

B'Elanna, Seven, and Kaia had just finished dinner. All things considered the day had gone pretty well, and B'Elanna was finally able to get some quality time with Kaia instead of being stuck down in engineering for most of the day.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone get along so well with my mom." B'Elanna said, not believing how quickly she and Seven took to each other.

"Miral is a very interesting woman. She cares for you a great deal." Seven commented as she put Kaia in her crib for her nap.

"Believe me, she wasn't always like this." B'Elanna said.

"What do you mean?" Seven asked curiously.

"Well, when my dad left my mom decided I wasn't acting Klingon enough. I guess I just couldn't accept that my dad left so I lashed out at my mom. For a long time I blamed her for my dad leaving. We drifted apart pretty quickly after that. It was just too painful to look at each other. All I could see when I looked at my mother was the thing that drove my father away, the Klingon part. When my mother looked at me all she could see was the human in me, and everything she lost because of it. She would never admit it to me but I could tell. I would always be a reminder to her of the husband she lost, and the mistakes she made because of him." B'Elanna sighed as she sat down on the sofa.

"I wish that I knew what to do to make you feel better." Seven said as knelt down between B'Elanna's legs and hugged her.

"You're doing a pretty good job now." B'Elanna smiled as she pulled Seven closer and kissed her forehead.

"If you think that you are mistake B'Elanna, trust me when I tell you that you are not. I need you in my life. You are the one person that holds me together. I do not believe that I would be strong enough to do this on my own, regardless of what I told you in the beginning."

"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for Seven." B'Elanna hugged Seven. "The life that you were forced to live, the things they did to you. Any normal person wouldn't have the strength to keep going after that."

"There were some days when I wished to end it." Seven admitted. "I just wanted the pain to stop so much that I was willing to do almost anything. Then you and Kaia came into my life, and it was better."

"Seven did you think about going back to the Borg?" B'Elanna asked feeling a little alarmed that Seven felt so miserable around the rest of the crew. She completely forgot about her own problems, which now seemed so small in comparison to her.

"No, In the time I spent on Voyager I realized that I could never willingly return to the Borg. It was what made it so hard, I felt as if I had no place I belonged, that no one could accept me for who I was." Seven said as a tear slid down her cheek.

"You belong to me." B'Elanna said impulsively as she lifted Seven off the ground and into her lap. She immediately figured out that if Seven didn't want to return to the Borg, and didn't want to stay on Voyager. There was only one option left, and she couldn't even bring herself to think it.

"I'm not going to let you leave me." B'Elanna said as she wrapped her arms tightly around Seven, afraid that if she lost contact with the younger woman she would disappear.

Seven knew that she should be feeling at the very least offended by what B'Elanna had said. Logically she didn't belong to anyone, she was an individual now, but it was oddly comforting.

All the doubt she had felt seemed to vanish upon hearing those words. She felt like she belonged.

"I won't leave B'Elanna." Seven promised as she kissed her cheek. "I do not feel that way anymore. You made that feeling go away."

"Feelings like those don't just go away." B'Elanna denied. "I need you Seven. I'm not letting you go. I love you too much for that."

"As you said B'Elanna, I belong to you now. Even if I wanted to I could not leave." Seven said, drawing comfort from B'Elanna's words.

"Say it again." B'Elanna demanded.

"I belong to you." Seven repeated, as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"Again," B'Elanna asked more softly this time.

"Every part of me, mind, body, and soul all belong to you." Seven whispered.

"Thank you." B'Elanna whispered as she felt tears run down her cheeks.

The words seemed all too simple to B'Elanna when she said them, but they fit. Seven had just promised herself to her unconditionally. The amount of trust Seven had for her, no one else had ever shown her.

The tender moment was broken all too quickly by the gurgle of Kaia as she woke up from her nap.

"Kaia is awake B'Elanna. She is hungry." Seven said reminding B'Elanna that she was still held firmly in her lap.

B'Elanna reluctantly let Seven up again, but she never took her eyes off her, still afraid she might disappear on her.

Seven returned moments later with Kaia in her arms and was about to sit down beside her when she felt a pair of arms grab her hips and pull her down into a warm lap. The arms wrapped around her and Kaia again protectively.

When Seven turned her head to question B'Elanna their eyes locked. B'Elanna was almost daring Seven to try to get out of her arms without uttering a single word.

Seven deciding not rise to the bait leaned into B'Elanna and began to feed Kaia as B'Elanna watched occasionally running her fingers over their daughters delicate face.

As Kaia finished Seven realized it would be the perfect time to read her another one of the stories from the data pad.

"B'Elanna what was the story you wished for Kaia to read?" Seven asked as she kissed Kaia's forehead.

"This one," B'Elanna said as she picked up the data pad and opened in to the first Curious George book. "I there's Seven books in the series, Kaia's going to love them." She said as she handed Seven the book. It seemed B'Elanna wanted to hear Seven tell the story as much as Kaia did.

Seven smiled at Kaia's enthusiasm as she looked at the cover. "Would you like to know where Curious George is going with those firemen Kaia?"

As if in answer to her question Kaia touched the picture of George, and then looked to her mother, waiting for her to turn the next page.

Seven woke up that morning feeling happy and safe. A part of her regretted telling B'Elanna about how she used to feel around the rest of the crew. She had not believed that it would affect B'Elanna as much as it did. On the other hand Seven felt she was closer to B'Elanna than ever before.

B'Elanna awoke with a happy sigh, as she felt Seven still in her arms. _'Kaia must be sleeping in.' _she mused to herself.

B'Elanna instinctively tightened her grip on Seven when she felt her trying to get out of bed. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Kaia will be awake soon, and I must start breakfast." Seven explained.

"Not until you say it." B'Elanna said as kissed Seven's forehead.

"I belong to you." Seven said, liking the way it sounded.

B'Elanna knew it was slightly childish to want to hear Seven say those words, but for some inexplicable reason it calmed her to know that Seven couldn't just get up and walk out of her life.

"Let's go." B'Elanna said as she got out of bed. "Maybe we'll have time to read Kaia another story before our shifts start."

"Read Kaia a story?" Seven asked with a smirk. "I seem to recall you enjoying listening to story as much as she did, if not more."

"Was it that obvious?" B'Elanna laughed. As she went to her desk to see if she received any messages, while Seven picked up Kaia and began to feed her.

"That's strange I have a message from home. I didn't think mom would send anything since she could talk to us yesterday." B'Elanna thought out loud.

"Perhaps she has written the letter before she knew you wished to speak to her." Seven offered.

"Maybe," B'Elanna said as she brought up the message on her console. "It's from my father." She said with a gasp.

"What does it say?" Seven asked. She was curious to know what the man who had abandoned B'Elanna as a child could have to say now.

To Be Continued…

You all probably didn't think I could jam another cliff hanger in did you?

PLEASE REVIEW!! COME ON YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT!

WHAT? THEY ARE!


	16. A Family

I know I don't say it often enough but thank you all very much for reviewing. I feel that with all the constructive reviews on the last few chapters it's really helped me to improve as a writer. I'd like to think that my style has improved somewhat because of it. Instead of reviews like 'nice chapter' or in the case of a flame 'I hate your story' these reviews have told me specifically what I did wrong and how to improve on the next chapter, or what I did right, and what I should revisit on later chapters. Don't get me wrong though, reviews like good chapter, nice work, and update soon are nice as well. They do show that you like my writing.

Thanks fore reviewing: Anime-freak-for-life, jim hawking jr, shawn, Dreamer20715, Just a fan

SavageLove: Cliff hangar just make it soo much more interesting though. It's pretty much my calling card.

Carshcart9: Miral's character is going to be a challenge. I have a number of options for her personality and please review wherever you feel comfortable.

3rd of 5ive: What can I say? You have to always leave them wanting more.

Goddess Anjanee: Thanks, I am really happy about the way part 14 turned out.

Kelani2539: Well you only get part of the explanation on this part but I hope it answers some of your questions

Rune: Thanks, it may be an unconventional relationship but I feel that it just has more impact with two women, instead of a man and a woman.

For the Love of a Child

Part Fifteen

"_What does it say?" Seven asked. She was curious to know what the man who had abandoned B'Elanna as a child could have to say now._

"He says he just found out that I was on Voyager." B'Elanna said as she scanned the letter. "He wants to get to know me again."

"Are you ready for this?" Seven asked. She didn't want B'Elanna to be hurt again.

"What would you do?" B'Elanna asked curiously. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to respond to the letter.

"I do not believe that I am the best person to speak about parents." Seven said tactfully. "Even if it were possible to have any kind of relationship with my parents it would be strained at best."

"I'm sorry Seven I wasn't thinking." B'Elanna said quickly. "The way you are with Kaia, sometimes I forget." She explained.

"I wish that I could advise you on what to do B'Elanna, but I honestly do not know." Seven sighed. "But I will support you in any decision you wish to make."

"Thanks Seven." B'Elanna smiled as she hugged her. "Maybe I can make it work with my dad this time. Kaia should know both her grand parents."

"I wish that I could forgive my parents as you have." Seven said, but every time she thought about it all she could remember were their foolish mistakes. They were doomed to be assimilated from the very beginning.

"I'd like to think you would, if you ever saw them again." B'Elanna kissed her.

"What will you do about your father?" Seven questioned. "Do you wish to use our allotted time next month to speak to him?"

"Well, I guess I still have a couple of days to think about it and send him a message." B'Elanna said thoughtfully. It had hurt a lot when her father left. B'Elanna wondered if she really wanted to open the door to that again.

Seven put Kaia back in her crib and started to make breakfast while B'Elanna read over the letter more thoroughly. She had only skimmed it earlier and hoped to find the reason why her father had decided to speak to her after all this time.

"B'Elanna breakfast is ready." Seven said as she placed two plates on the table filled with bacon and eggs.

"It turns out my dad owns a transport business." B'Elanna said after finishing the letter. "He also got re-married and has a twelve year old son Lucas."

"How did your father know to find you on Voyager?" Seven asked curiously. It had been bothering her since B'Elanna received the letter. Logically he should not have known anything about her.

"Everyone back on Earth everyone is talking about us." B'Elanna explained. "One ship trapped and alone in the Delta quadrant, surrounded by hostile species at every turn, it's the stuff legends are made of." B'Elanna smirked, after all it was one of the few times she knew something Seven didn't.

"They find our journey entertaining?" Seven asked in confusion.

Voyager hadn't run into a hostile species in over a month. It had quite frankly gotten a little boring. It was almost like traveling through the void again, a place where there were no stars, planets, or anything. If the native species to the void hadn't shown them a short cut out of that place they would probably still be there.

"How could they not?" B'Elanna asked. "A brave and courageous chief engineer miraculously repairing Voyager when all hope seemed to be lost. Even with domineering former drone breathing down her neck." B'Elanna teased, before breaking out into laughter.

"Brave and courageous?" Seven asked with a smirk. "When we return to Earth I must present a more accurate depiction of events."

"Oh really?" B'Elanna asked, still smiling. "I think it was fairly accurate." B'Elanna said as she moved closer to Seven.

Without warning B'Elanna latched onto Seven and began to tickle her. "Say it," B'Elanna said in between Seven's laughs. "Say I'm brave and courageous."

"What kind of example would I be setting for Kaia?" Seven asked as she tried to break B'Elanna's grip between laughs. "Especially such a bold faced lie," Seven smiled broadly

"Oh, that's it." B'Elanna laughed as she picked up Seven and dropped her on the couch before climbing on top of her.

Before Seven had time to react B'Elanna was on top of her and had her arms pinned above her head. Seven knew she could easily break B'Elanna's grip with her artificial hand but she was having too much fun.

"I know all your ticklish spots." B'Elanna warned, as her lips were only an inch away from Seven's. "Come on you know it's true." She cajoled.

"You are the bravest and most courageous person I know." Seven said with all seriousness as she tilted her head up and kissed B'Elanna's lips softly.

"I love you." B'Elanna said as Seven broke the kiss.

"I love you too." Seven said as she kissed B'Elanna again.

Seven finally knew, this was what love was, and she never wanted the feeling to go away.

"You said it." B'Elanna smiled. She knew that Seven would eventually say it, but she never knew that it would be so soon, that it would end up meaning so much.

"I did." Seven smiled at B'Elanna. "You mean so much to me."

"When did you know?" B'Elanna asked.

"Last night, when I told you that I considered… killing myself," Seven said.

Even now Seven could see the hurt in B'Elanna's eyes when she said those words. It seemed like so long ago that she had considered it.

"The pain you felt because of it, that you still feel when I say it now. I never wish for you to feel like that and I do not want to leave you B'Elanna. I am yours forever." Seven promised.

"When…, I mean, how could …" B'Elanna couldn't bring herself to say the words. The very idea of Seven taking her own life was so painful she could feel the tears forming in her eyes.

"I felt so alone before you came into my life. It felt as if I would always be an outsider, that I could see you all together, happy, but never a part of it." Seven admitted as tears began to form in her eyes as well. Thinking about it now brought back the feelings of isolation, a feeling that nearly crippled her with sorrow.

"I want you to promise me something." B'Elanna said as she finally let go of Seven's hands and cupped her face. "Promise me that if something ever happens to me and the baby you'll keep going, that you'll keep living."

"Please do not ask that of me B'Elanna. I am not as strong as you are. The two of you are my reason for living, without you I am nothing." Seven said as her tears finally began to fall.

B'Elanna couldn't take it anymore. She sat up and pulled Seven into her lap and held her tightly. "I love you more than anything Seven. It hurts so much to think that I could loose you, especially like that." B'Elanna cried.

"I do not know how to fix it." Seven sobbed. "I wish that I had never felt like that, but I did. I still do."

"You mean too much to me. It feels like if I let you go for even a second something could happen, someone could say something or do something. I wouldn't even get to say goodbye, you would just be gone. I can't loose you Seven."

Seven wished there was something she could say, something she could do, but there was nothing. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she lost her family she would be lost as well.

Tom Paris woke up early that morning. Without anything to do except think about what he had done, why he was in the brig, he had very little else to do.

'_I've lost B'Elanna, I've nearly killed a pregnant Seven, and I ruined almost every friendship I made on Voyager.' _Tom thought to himself sadly for the hundredth time.

He had never meant to hurt Seven. He just wanted to get B'Elanna back in his life. It was all just a huge mistake. Why couldn't anyone else see that? Seven had even forgiven him.

'_But you don't deserve to be forgiven,' _said a tiny voice in the back of Tom's head. _'Why do you always seem to ruin all the good things in your life? Could dad have been right? Will you ever be able to do anything right?'_

'_I'm trying' _Tom thought. _'God help me, I'm trying. Why can't my best ever be good enough? It wasn't enough to get the girl, it wasn't enough. It was never enough.'_

Tom was n turmoil. He had thought that he had figured things out. He was going to apologize to Seven as soon as he got out of the brig, try to make up for what he had done. And maybe, just maybe B'Elanna would forgive him, would take him back. He knew it wouldn't really be a conventional relationship. He would have to share her with Seven and the baby, but he was willing to do it.

When Harry told him B'Elanna was in love with Seven it floored him, and when he said that Seven was in love with her it destroyed everything.

He had tried so hard to hate Seven for it. To blame her for taking B'Elanna away from him, but he couldn't. Not after what Harry had said. Seven deserved a family, more than any of them.

She needed people to stand behind her, to defend her, because after all her time on Voyager, how long it took her to win over even a fraction of the crew over. It simply wasn't enough.

Tom knew for a fact that back on Earth they would be judging her, waiting for her to make a mistake. They might look for anything to condemn her. One unfavorable remark from just a single member of the crew would be enough.

He could not be that person. He would not be that person. He could never live with himself after something like that.

'_There must be a way.' _He thought. _'How can I have what I want without destroying Seven?'_

When Janeway began the morning meeting she couldn't help but notice the fact that B'Elanna was holding onto Seven's hand. That in itself was not the strange part though. Whenever the two were together B'Elanna's hand seemed to be glued around Seven's waist.

It was the way B'Elanna was looking at Seven and Kaia. It almost seemed like she was afraid to let them go. The smile that was usually on B'Elanna's face was replaced by a look of deep worry, and Seven looked at B'Elanna like she was helpless to fix it.

Tearing her gaze away from Seven and B'Elanna Janeway began the morning meeting. "How is everything going with the data stream? Have there been any complications?"

"No Captain." Seven answered. "Everything is proceeding according to schedule, and there have been no distortions or degradation in the data stream."

"Moral has really gone up since we got real time communication with Starfleet." Neelix put in happily.

"We could certainly use it after everything that's happened." Chakotay said as he looked at Seven and Kaia, feeling a little guilty about his own feelings toward Seven in the beginning.

"Keep up the good work." Janeway said to everyone as she ended the meeting.

There was no point in keeping everyone around when they clearly didn't have much to discuss. It must have been a record this past month, not a single conflict with an alien species. The universe must have decided that there was enough conflict inside the ship, and cut them a break on what was going on outside.

"Seven could you stay for a few more minutes?" Janeway asked. She was worried about what was going on with her.

"I'd like to stay too Captain." B'Elanna said, not letting go of Seven's hand.

"I'm sure Seven will be fine." Janeway said, not understanding B'Elanna's attitude. She still cared about Seven but she didn't think B'Elanna still considered her a threat.

"Please Captain?" Seven asked. "I think B'Elanna would feel better if you allowed it."

"Is everything alright?" Janeway asked in concern. "You both seemed fine the other night at dinner."

"It's kind of private." B'Elanna said not feeling comfortable discussing it. She really didn't want to start crying again.

"I really don't want to pry you two but if it affects your jobs I don't have much choice." Janeway sighed.

"How is it affecting our jobs?" B'Elanna asked. She had hoped that it wasn't so obvious.

"B'Elanna you haven't let go of Seven's hands from the moment you walked in here. I don't think I've ever seen you so worried." Janeway said full of concern.

"We just had a private discussion that I wasn't expecting." B'Elanna said evasively. There was still a lot more to talk about with Seven, and she wouldn't even consider to talking to anyone else about it until she was ready.

"It has nothing to do with the safety of Voyager." Seven reassured the Captain. "It is as B'Elanna said, private."

"Alright," Janeway relented. "I'll stay out of it for now." She said as she looked between the two. She did not like what was going on. Seven had always come to her with her problems. This was the first time that she didn't want to discuss it with her.

"Thank you Captain." Seven said as she, Kaia, and B'Elanna left the ready room.

"I'll pick you up for lunch." B'Elanna promised as she kissed Seven then Kaia. "If anything happens call me, and I will be there as soon as I can."

"There is no need to worry." Seven reassured her. "Kaia and I will be fine."

"Yes there is Seven." B'Elanna disagreed. "We haven't finished talking about this by a long shot. We'll pick it up again after dinner." She said as she gave Seven a final kiss as she left for engineering.

B'Elanna walked into Engineering to pick up Seven for lunch. She was about a little early, but for most of the morning she could barley concentrate on her work. She thought that if she gave it some time it wouldn't bother her as much.

Unfortunately the exact opposite happened, the more she waited, the more it bothered her.

"Hello B'Elanna." Seven turned around to face her. "You are early."

"I just wanted to see you." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Seven agreed as she tapped a few more keys. "Computer, save document."

"How has Kaia been?" B'Elanna asked.

"She has just had her lunch and is taking her nap." Seven said as she picked Kaia up, careful not to wake her up.

Seven and B'Elanna quietly made their way to the mess hall. The rest of the crew had learned of Kaia's sleep schedule and were more than happy to keep the noise level down around them.

"Hi guys." Harry said as he quietly waved to them as they entered the mess hall. He had learned his lesson from last time. The last thing he wanted was another death glare from B'Elanna.

Seven and B'Elanna both exchanged greetings with Harry as they sat down after getting their lunch.

"I've been wondering something Seven." Harry said curiously. "Do your arms ever get tired from holding Kaia? It seems like you're holding her almost every time I see you."

"Kaia spends a good portion of my duty shift in her play pen, and my artificial arm is more than capable of holding her for extended periods of time." Seven answered. Seven had never questioned it before, it just felt more natural to her to hold Kaia most of the time.

"There was also something else." Harry said feeling a little uncomfortable about talking about it, but he felt he had to. "I visited Tom in the brig yesterday."

"Why would you do that?" B'Elanna asked. Even though Seven had forgiven him, she was still upset.

"He had to be told about you two." Harry defended himself. "It's going to be a lot easier for him to accept it he can deal with it before seeing you together.

The last thing that Harry wanted to do was end up in another fight with B'Elanna. They had only recently patched up their friendship. Another fight so soon to their last one could break it permanently.

"You are correct Harry." Seven agreed with a sigh. "Mr. Paris needs time to adjust."

"How did he take the news?" B'Elanna asked. She wanted to know if she had to take any extra steps to keep him away from Seven.

"As well as can be expected," Harry said. "He is sorry about what he did to you and Kaia Seven. In fact it was one of the first things he said when I talked to him."

"He does not accept our relationship." Seven stated more than she asked.

"I wouldn't say that." Harry disagreed. "He was upset that he didn't have a chance with B'Elanna after he got out of the brig, but I don't think he'd even consider hurting you again Seven."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see." B'Elanna said, not completely believing that Tom was a changed man.

"We better get back to work." Harry said as he checked the time. "By the way Seven, I was wondering do you think that we could all have that breakfast together soon? Dinner the other night was great." Harry complimented.

"Perhaps at the end of the week," Seven agreed. "I believe that the Captain can be persuaded to start the morning meeting later than normal."

"That would be perfect." Harry agreed happily.

"See you at home Seven." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven, and Kaia who had just recently begun to stir.

Seven had just finished her shift in Astrometrics. She had not finished everything that she had wanted today though. Kaia did not seem to want to go back to sleep for the rest of the day.

After two lullabies Seven had given up on getting her back to sleep and simply held her as she worked.

Kaia for her part enjoyed it thoroughly. She gurgled happily as the star charts changed and played with the implant behind Seven's ear. Over the past couple of days it had become her favorite as she marked it with baby kisses, and whatever food she had snuck off Seven's plate and rubbed on her face when she was imitating her two mothers.

Seven walked into the quarters she shared with B'Elanna with a little trepidation. She knew that what she was going to discuss with B'Elanna would be difficult. She would have felt the same way if B'Elanna was the one to consider suicide at some point in her life.

A bigger part of her felt that B'Elanna was being unreasonable though. Seven wondered what B'Elanna would do if something happened to her and Kaia instead. Would B'Elanna be able to keep going, as she asked Seven to do?

To Be Continued…

AND YOU GUYS ARE COOL FOR REVIEWING (SERIOUSLY)

Just 24 more reviews until I can break 150!


	17. Family Problems

Tillallareone: thanks, I'm glad to here you liked it.

3rd of five: it's an interesting idea but I don't think it would really fit in well with this story. That storyline sounds like it deserves its own story.

Crashcart9: there really is a book about seven of nine going suicidal? Hmm, interesting.

Goddess Anjane: I have been tinkering with the idea of getting them married, but I think it's still early in their relationship for that.

Janire: Thanks, it looks like I'm getting really close too.

Savagelove: Sorry it took a little longer than normal, Christmas and new yea stuff.

Reader: thanks, I just hope I have a few more ideas for stories, I would really like to start another Voyager fic.

Rune: that's me, hitting all the demographics 

For the Love of a Child

Part Sixteen

Seven and B'Elanna had just finished eating dinner, and Kaia had just gone to sleep after finishing the second book of the Curious George series. Seven knew that this was the time that she and B'Elanna would have their rather difficult conversation.

She looked over to see B'Elanna kissing Kaia goodnight. Seven had to smile at that, it seemed as if B'Elanna was never able to spend as much time as she wanted with Kaia. Her duties in engineering were among the most demanding on Voyager.

The few times that B'Elanna was even able to take a day off it was spent almost exclusively with Kaia and her.

"Seven." B'Elanna called softly as she sat down on the couch. She just wished she knew what to do to change Seven's mind. She had never felt so powerless before.

Seven sat down next to B'Elanna and rested her head on her shoulder as B'Elanna put her arms around her. Seven was still very new to expressing her emotions and she had no idea how to deal with this situation.

"B'Elanna." Seven said as a long silence descended over both of them. Both of them knew what they wanted to say, but neither was able to express it.

"What would you do in my place?" Seven finally asked.

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked.

"If it was me and Kaia that died would you be able to keep living?" Seven asked. She had been asking this question herself for the entire day.

"The same," B'Elanna found herself saying as she saw things from Seven's point of view. She didn't know why she hadn't seen it before, but she had to make Seven see it from her point of view as well. "What if you only thought that I died?"

"What do you mean?" Seven asked. It seemed like the most obvious thing to her. She would know if B'Elanna was dead, wouldn't she?

"Have you thought about the way I would feel? What if I got lost on an away mission or there was an accident in engineering and you thought I was dead?" B'Elanna asked. "What would I do if you were gone?"

"I do not know." Seven for the first time considered B'Elanna's words.

"That's what I'm afraid of Seven, loosing you because you didn't know all the facts." B'Elanna said as she pulled Seven into her lap.

"I will not do anything rash until I am positive that you are…" Seven trailed off. She did not even want to think about anything bad happening to Seven.

"We're both tired Seven, maybe this isn't something we're going to be able to solve tonight." B'Elanna decided not to push the issue tonight. She could see how difficult it was for Seven to talk about it.

"Let's go to bed Seven." B'Elanna picked up Seven and carried her to the bed, for once without Seven complaining that she could walk on her own.

Seven only rested her head under B'Elanna chin after softly kissing her neck. She had grown to like the feeling of B'Elanna taking care of her.

The next three weeks passed fairly quickly for the crew of Voyager. Seven and B'Elanna seemed to have formed an unspoken agreement not to discuss Seven's former wish to commit suicide. The topic was still a painful one for both of them, and for the time being ignoring it seemed to be the easiest solution.

A friendly meeting with an alien species allowed Voyager to trade for resources they were running low on. Unfortunately shore leave was impossible as the alien planet's atmosphere was toxic to Voyager's crew.

Meeting and negotiations were held strictly on the view screen as they found out that the atmosphere of each ship was also toxic to each other. Voyager came out of the trade with enough dilithium to last them another 20 light years and only had to part with some star charts of the surrounding area.

The breakfast that Harry was anticipating was a huge success. Seven had really gone all out. Harry, Janeway, Naiomi, and Samantha couldn't remember when they had eaten so well.

Seven had made banana pancakes, eggs, bacon, French toast, and even a pot of coffee that Janeway demanded the recipe for.

Kaia had even gotten into the spirit much to the distress of Seven who had to clean maple syrup off herself and Kaia on two separate occasions. Kaia still had not grasped the fact that she needed to wait another three to four months before she could begin eating food other than breast milk.

Seven woke up the next morning to realize that today was the day that Tom Paris completed his time in the brig. She had thought that given enough time she would not feel as much anxiety about having to see Paris again, but it seemed that time had not dulled that feeling.

For a moment Seven considered locking herself in the bedroom with Kaia in hopes that she could put off facing Paris.

"What's the matter?" B'Elanna asked sleepily as she woke up. This was early even for Seven. Kaia probably wouldn't wake up for at least another fifteen minutes.

"Mr. Paris will be released from the brig today." Seven said as she sat up in bed.

"It's going to be okay Seven." B'Elanna said as she sat up and hugged her. "I won't let anything happen to you or Kaia."

"I am afraid." Seven said as she leaned into B'Elanna. "I do not wish to see him."

"You're going to have to face him sooner or later Seven, and believe me, the longer you wait the harder it's going to be." B'Elanna said in a soothing voice. Personal experience had shown her that something like this could not simply be put off.

"Will you stay with us?" Seven asked, referring to her and Kaia. For some reason she knew she would feel better if B'Elanna spent the day with her.

"Sure Seven." B'Elanna agreed. "We might as well get Astrometrics prepared for communications with Earth."

Every time that Voyager used the Midas array, most of the systems in Astrometrics had to be re-calibrated to ensure that there were no degradations in the data files. It usually took a couple of days for Seven to set up by herself, but with Kaia Seven found it difficult maintain her usual quantity of work as Kaia seemed to do the most entertaining things to draw her attention. The only solution that Seven could find was to ask for B'Elanna's assistance with the re-calibration.

"Have you decided what you will tell your father?" Seven asked. Wondering what B'Elanna wished to say about her and Kaia.

"I'm going to tell him everything." B'Elanna said. "You and Kaia are too important to me not to tell him about."

"Kaia and I will not be hurt if you do not wish to tell him about us yet." Seven didn't want B'Elanna to push too hard and possibly endanger her relationship with her father.

"What are you talking about Seven? Of course I want to tell him about you and Kaia. If he doesn't want accept it then that's his problem. Besides, I don't want Kaia to be around someone like that." B'Elanna disagreed.

"Then we will speak to him after the morning meeting." Seven said as she got out of bed and went into the living room. Kaia would be waking up momentarily.

"You really have to tell me some time how we seem to always get the best times to talk to Earth." B'Elanna said, referring to how they always got the earliest time slots, and the fact that they were always one after the other.

"It is up to the Astrometrics officer to organize the earth communications schedule." Seven pointed out as she went to check on Kaia.

"Lucky me," B'Elanna smirked as she helped Seven with Kaia. "Wait a minute, is that why I always used to get the worst times?" B'Elanna asked as the full realization hit her.

Seven's only response was to smirk as she picked up Kaia and tried to contain her laugh.

"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked as he met Tom at the brig.

"More than ready," Tom said feeling relived. "If I ever see the brig again it'll be too soon."

As much as the brig gave Tom the time to think things over and give him ideas on how he would deal with B'Elanna and Seven's relationship it was still a place that he would never grow fond of.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do?" Harry referred to Seven and B'Elanna. If Tom was going to cause trouble he wanted to be there to stop it.

"You don't have to worry about me." Tom figured out where Harry was going. "I've learned my lesson."

"Good." Harry said breaking out into a smile. "Let's get some breakfast, my treat," Harry teased.

"Funny Harry," Tom remembered that he wasn't allowed to have any replicator rations for awhile.

As Harry and Tom left the brig Tom couldn't help but notice all the glances he was getting from the rest of the crew as he passed them in the hallway. He couldn't be sure but it felt like a little bit of distrust mixed with anger.

"What's going on Harry?" Tom asked as they sat down at a table. "It feels like the whole ship is giving me the evil eye." Tom felt a little hurt that besides Harry there really didn't seem to be anyone else that was happy to see him again.

"After what happened to Seven a lot of people's opinions of her changed. You'd be hard pressed to find someone know that would say a single bad thing about her." Harry answered. Harry didn't want to make Tom nervous but quite a few people were willing to step in if Tom ever stepped out of line with Seven.

"I really am sorry about what I did." Tom said feeling ashamed. "I never meant for that to happen, but it did. Trust me when I tell you, I'm not going to hurt Seven again. She's going to need all of us backing her when we get back to earth."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "What's going to happen when we get home?"

Even though Harry had become a seasoned and dependable officer he sometimes couldn't help but be a little naïve about the world around him.

"Don't tell me you never thought about it." Tom said. "The bottom line is Seven is a former Borg drone, and the collective had years to perfect her. Can you honestly tell me that Starfleet wouldn't be the least bit interested in her?"

"Sure they'd be interested but they would never do anything against her wishes." Harry said, still not grasping the full situation. He had started fresh out of the academy and was away from alpha quadrant so long that he didn't know how it operated.

"They let the Cardasians enslave the Bajorans." Tom pointed out. "Who knows what they're capable of now?"

"That was an isolated incident." Harry defended, still not wishing to see Tom's point. "Starfleet isn't like that."

Tom decided to give Harry some time to digest the information as he ate the rest of his meal quietly. The last thing he wanted to do was alienate his best friend.

"We should probably get going," Harry said as they finished their breakfast. "The guards will be waiting for you at the doors to the ready room." Harry reminded Tom of the restraining order the captain placed on him.

"Did the Captain say how long that would last?" Tom asked. He wasn't planning to track down Seven and have it out with her but the idea of being ordered to stay away from someone like that was disconcerting.

"Not really. I think it's going to be a standing order until you regain her trust." Harry said.

Tom just nodded. He had a lot of fence mending to do ahead of him. He just hoped that it wasn't too late to change some of the crew's opinions of him.

Seven walked into the ready room with Kaia in her arms and B'Elanna at her side. It was obvious to everyone that saw her she wanted to be anywhere else but there. She wouldn't even look at Tom.

B'Elanna had to gently pull Seven into the room and sit next to her, placing her hand on Seven's knee comfortingly.

Kaia, also sensing her mothers discomfort reached up with her tiny arms and touched Seven's face.

Seven looked down to the crooked smile on her daughter's face and couldn't help but give a small smile in return as she kissed Kaia's forehead and held her close.

"Well let's get started." Janeway said as she noticed the tension in the room.

The two guards that Tuvok has assigned were standing next to the wall behind Seven's seat, with phasers at their waists, ready to draw in less than a second.

"As you all know, our real time communications with Earth will begin in two days." Janeway announced with a smile at the eager looks of her staff.

"Seven, do you need any help preparing?" Janeway asked.

"B'Elanna has already agreed to assist me." Seven replied keeping her eyes on Kaia as B'Elanna rubbed her knee in support.

"Mr. Paris you will not have any replicator rations for the next three months and any meetings you have with Seven will be monitored by security." Janeway reminded him. She had no idea how long she would have to keep the guards around, but by the look on Seven's face they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"Yes Captain." Paris agreed without complaint, thinking it was best not to bring up how long the restraining order would last.

The rest of the meeting was mostly about the routine stuff that happened on Voyager. Neither Tom nor Seven said much during the meeting. One was unable to look at the other, and the other feeling too ashamed to speak.

As soon as Neelix outlined a plan for a crew celebration, for as obscure Talaxian holiday Janeway ended the morning meeting.

Seven was the first to leave with Kaia in her arms, and B'Elanna trailing after her.

Finally when the three of them entered the confines of Astrometrics Seven let out a sigh of relief. It had been very hard for her to remain in the same room as Paris, a lot harder than she had originally thought.

"You did pretty well in there Seven." B'Elanna said as she wrapped her arms around Seven's stomach and pulled her into a hug. "I'm proud of you."

"I could not even look at him B'Elanna." Seven said with another sigh. "Will it always be this way?"

"I don't really know Seven." B'Elanna admitted. "Normally in a situation like this Paris would be at the very least transferred to another ship and we wouldn't have to deal with it, but since we're alone out here we really don't have much choice."

Seven placed Kaia in her play pen and put her stuffed monkey down next to her after B'Elanna let go of her. "I do not wish to be afraid. I do not like this emotion."

"It's going to get easier." B'Elanna promised. "We both knew that seeing him again for the first time would be difficult."

"I hope that you are correct B'Elanna." Seven said as she walked towards the screen to begin with the calibrations.

"Where do you want to start first?" B'Elanna asked as she sat down in the chair.

As soon as B'Elanna had found out how often Seven was standing in one place during her shift B'Elanna had immediately installed a chair.

"If you will begin with the deflector dish I will make the necessary calculations." Seven said as she pulled out a data pad and started to go through some of the calculations.

Seven was so engrossed in her work that when she felt B'Elanna pull her into the chair she didn't even notice until she landed on B'Elanna's lap.

"Why did I install the chair?" B'Elanna chided with a smile.

"So that I would not have to stand for my entire shift," Seven answered as she turned sideways and kissed B'Elanna's cheek.

B'Elanna smiled as she turned to her work, using the console.

Considering how everything went during the morning meeting Janeway had to admit that everything turned out better than she thought.

She had half expected B'Elanna to lunge across the table and begin to strangle Tom.

'_Seven didn't seem to take it too well though.' _Janeway reminded herself. _'She didn't even look at him once during the meeting.'_

"How long do you think we're going to need the guards for?" Chakotay asked, interrupting Janeway's train of thought.

"What? Oh, I'm not really sure. I guess I should ask Seven what she thinks first." Janeway said as she stood up. She had a feeling nothing interesting would happen in this area of space anyway, and the bridge crew would hardly miss her for a little while anyway.

"You have the bridge Chakotay." Janeway said as she walked out of the door.

Janeway walked down to Astrometrics not knowing what to expect. Over the past two months she was sad to admit that she had began to drift apart from Seven. She was no longer able to read the younger woman as well as she used to, or at least believed she used to.

A part of it was because she just wasn't there to support Seven when she needed it, but she felt that a bigger part of it was because she was never truly able to connect with Seven no matter how much she tried.

At first she had been envious and at times even jealous about the way that B'Elanna was able to bond seemingly so easily with Seven, but as she had more time to think about she realized she wasn't seeing things the way they truly were.

She only saw the happy moments, not the work that both Seven and B'Elanna had put in to make the relationship work. In the end she found herself genuinely happy for Seven.

The door to Astrometrics opened as Janeway stepped inside. She was a little surprised to find Voyager's newest family all occupying the same chair.

"Captain," B'Elanna said as she swiveled the chair around. She made sure to keep a steady grip on Seven, as Seven wasn't expecting the sudden change of direction.

"I didn't know you were… I'm sorry I didn't…" Janeway said as she got an eyeful of Seven breastfeeding Kaia and quickly turned around. "Maybe I should com back later."

"It is alright Captain." Seven said as she covered herself. "I have just finished feeding Kaia." _'She must be uncomfortable about seeing me in this state of dress.' _Seven thought to herself as she rubbed Kaia's back.

"Are you sure?" Janeway asked as she chanced a look behind her.

"Don't worry about it Captain. It's only breast feeding." B'Elanna said, doing her best to contain her amusement. After all, Harry hadn't even raised an eye over it.

"I just wanted to talk to you about how you feel about Mr. Paris." Janeway said as she tried to regain at least a little bit of her dignity.

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked.

"Well I want to leave the decision on how long the restraining order is going to last to you." Janeway said as she looked at Seven. "It isn't really too much of a drain on resources, so I don't want that to be what your decision is based on." Janeway explained.

"Thank you Captain," Seven said. "I do not know how long I want the restraining order to last, only that I want it to remain for the present time."

"I just wanted you to think about it Seven. You don't have to tell me right away." Janeway said. She didn't want Seven to feel like she was forced into anything.

Kaia decided that her mother wasn't paying enough attention to her and at that moment grabbed onto a piece of Seven's hair and gave it a tug.

"Kaia," Seven said in surprise as she gently began to pry Kaia's hand from her hair.

"Does she do that often?" Janeway asked as she cast an amused glance at Kaia.

"Only when she thinks Seven isn't paying enough attention to her." B'Elanna smirked. "I guess her mind's just developed to the point where she's started to become a little possessive."

"Kaia does look like she's maturing pretty quickly." Janeway admitted with a smile.

"Mentally anyway," B'Elanna agreed. "Physically though, she's just on par with a four month old."

"I was wondering B'Elanna." Janeway said as Seven was finally able to free her hair from Kaia's grasp. "Have you thought about who the god parents are going to be yet?"

"What are god parents?" Seven asked as she tickled Kaia playfully, causing her to gurgle.

To Be Continued…

PLEASE REVIEW!!! I'M SO CLOSE TO REACHING MY GOAL OF REVIEWS. I JUST NEED 4 MORE REVIEWS


End file.
